How Does Winter Daylight Savings Affect High School Students?

With the recent time change on November 5th for daylight saving time, I know that students, including myself, have felt the effects of the new schedule, whether that be positive or negative. On November 5th, we pushed back the clocks an hour, and each day the sun will set earlier than previous until the longest day of the year, December 21st. I have heard some very mixed opinions about winter daylight saving from high school students this year, so I took the liberty of interviewing 15 high school students to gather their thoughts on the time change.

What I found is that the majority of students have felt more negative effects from daylight saving than positive ones. Interestingly, 85% of students said they felt more fatigued during winter daylight saving. This raises the question of what would cause this? According to Aeroflow sleep, “Darkness is one of the cues that signals it's time for bed” (Dula). When students get out of school, the sun is about to set most days, and this can hinder people's motivation to get things done. Sunlight is important to productivity because it keeps people more awake and increases functionality, because our bodies feel less tired. Therefore, students have a harder time completing homework during the winter. In addition, 57% of students said that they feel less attentive lately. Furthermore, having  less motivation to get things done can sometimes lead to depression. 47% of students said they feel more down or depressed during winter daylight saving. The Mayo Clinic says that a lack of sunlight can “disrupt your body's internal clock and lead to feelings of depression.” Students are cooped up inside all day, and then when they get out of school, the sun soon sets. Furthermore, if students are getting less sunlight during winter daylight saving, they are more prone to being tired, unmotivated, and depressed. So this raises the questions, should we even have daylight saving time?