Lopez: Colorado should keep pursuing ditching daylight savings

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Collegian | Trin Bonner

Dominique Lopez, Staff Reporter

Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.

When the clocks jumped forward an hour in November, I heard talk that Colorado voted for daylight saving time to no longer plague the state. Despite the bill passed for Colorado to have year-round daylight savings, the chances of it being enacted soon decrease since it is more challenging than originally perceived. What would a time-changeless state actually look like?

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There are only two states in the United States that do not rotate daylight saving times: most of Arizona and all of Hawaii.

As I continue to think about daylight saving time and how it affects our sleep schedules, the amount of time we actually spend studying on campus trying to get home before dark and even our mental health, I begin to think that not having a constant change to the clock would be a great idea.

With the semiannual clock change, the number one result that challenges our ability to survive is our sleep schedule.

In the first few weeks of the time change, you never fully know what time it is because your body’s internal clock doesn’t want to let you go to bed at your normal time. It affects the time you wake up as well as the amount of sleep you feel you need in order to keep pursuing the day.

A life without the semiannual hassle of having to change the clocks would make this struggle nonexistent.

When it comes to mental health issues, getting the right amount of sleep and even a daily dose of sunshine is important for everyone. This is why having that bit of sunset when you get home from work or school is so important. It also encourages people to spend time outside and go out a bit more.

“I am not the only one who has the desire to leave the house after a long day of school or work to get groceries when it is bright outside. People are more inclined to get out and do things rather than go home and curl up in a blanket because they think they have to go to bed soon.”

For those who are afraid to walk around in the dark, a permanent daylight saving time could offer more safety for people who get home from work and school around 5 or 6 p.m.

Having the constant reassurance that the sun will be out by the time you decide to leave your study pod is important, especially to me as a woman. Knowing I could spend more time at the library studying or even that I could eat out for dinner before the sun sets would make me feel so much safer and less nervous to leave the house.

I am not the only one who has the desire to leave the house after a long day of school or work to get groceries when it is bright outside. People are more inclined get out and do things rather than go home and curl up in a blanket because they think they have to go to bed soon.

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Daylight saving time is an interesting concept that affects Americans in what some may consider an unimportant way. The constant changing of the clocks challenges almost every single thing we do on a daily basis, starting with sleep.

Reach Dominique Lopez at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @caffeinateddee6.