[joshstrange]

> According to the research results, public health and economy would care.

Well, good thing we've never let that stand in the way of a decision. /s

Personally I'd prefer more light later in the day so that I don't feel like the day is over as soon as I get off work but that's just me.

[d4mi3n]

That's what the research supports. People go out more and spend money more when the sun is up after the working day. Kids play more. People exercise more.

[joshstrange]

Ahh, I think I read the comment I was replying to backwards (which is par for the course when it comes to TZ/DST-type things with me, "is it an hour earlier? or later").

[runarberg]

No, you read it correctly the first time around. E.g. from the first link in the dump above:

> we find that an extra hour of natural light in the evening reduces sleep duration by an average of 19 minutes and increases the likelihood of reporting insufficient sleep.

The health benefits of people staying out longer and spending more money (?) are disputed I believe. The reduced sleep of day starting before sun-up are pretty universally recognized as bad for public health (particularly among teenagers).

Also note that if staying out longer was a goal to strive for, there are number of alternatives to encourage that. Including shorter worker ours, more public spaces, public events, etc. Conversely getting people to sleep longer is much harder with the clock set 1+ hour after the sun clock.

[d4mi3n]

> Also note that if staying out longer was a goal to strive for, there are number of alternatives to encourage that. Including shorter worker ours, more public spaces, public events, etc. Conversely getting people to sleep longer is much harder with the clock set 1+ hour after the sun clock.

This are fantastic points I don't see in discussions around the topic. Goes to show that the solution space for a problem is often constrained by our perceptions of both the problem and what our expectations of a reasonable solution are.

[seanmcdirmid]

My kid doesn't go to sleep earlier just because the sun sets at 5PM. In fact, he has gotten used to spending most of his evenings in darkness, not being able to go to the park after school to let off some energy makes him go to bed later rather than earlier.

[runarberg]

Then might I suggest you ask your local government to invest in better lighting at you local park so your kid can still play at it even when it stars getting dark. Or if natural lighting is a must, you can ask your school district to have shorter school hours during the 2 weeks around winter solstice. If that is impossible you can ask for more outdoors school activities during mid-winter.

But what I gathered is that what matters most for healthy sleep is not going to bed early, but rather to sleep longer in the morning and wake up with the sun. So if we move to permanent DST this behavior of staying up late might become more of a problem because of the early rising.

[sampo]

It's an interesting situation. Research shows one thing, but a lot of people seem to have a gut feeling that says the opposite thing.

[stouset]

This is literally what permanent DST accomplishes.

[joshstrange]

I know, I mistakenly thought the comment I was referring to was saying that the research says that "Standard Time" is better for us than DST.