Minnesota experts and lawmakers weigh in on ending daylight saving time
To change or not to change — that is the question. Daylight saving time begins this weekend, and sunset will be an hour later.
A Minnesota sleep expert opposes the yearly practice.
"It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible," said Dr. Andrew Stiehm of Allina Health.
Former Minnesota dairy farmer Peter Ripka shares the same feelings.
"It doesn't serve a purpose no more," said Ripka.
President Trump is also weighing in on whether to take it away.
"It's very much a 50/50 issue," said Trump. "It's something I can do but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way,"
The official practice of daylight saving time began in 1918 in the U.S. Some say it was because of farming, and other research says it was an original idea from Benjamin Franklin to conserve energy.
"That's before tractors had lights. Farmers couldn't do stuff out in the fields," said Ripka.
Ripka milked cows in Kanabec County for 35 years. He now works for the Minnesota Farmers Union, which supports opting out of the time switch.
"It doesn't stop agriculture now," said Ripka.
State Rep. Mike Freiberg, DFL-Golden Valley, is also in favor of getting rid of the switch.
"Once Congress gives us authorization to go to daylight saving time permanently, then Minnesota will automatically do that, and that's currently in state law," said Freiberg.
The Minnesota law that passed in 2021 to change how we change our clocks was a bipartisan effort, according to Freiberg.
"Another person who cared about it a lot was former Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, who's a pretty conservative Republican, and I'd say I'm a pretty liberal Democrat," said Freiberg.
Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, posted a poll on X Wednesday asking users if they prefer an hour earlier or an hour later if officials got rid of daylight saving time.
Medical experts agree that it's better to be on standard time.
"If you think about humans aren't set on the clock, but the sun," said Stiehm. "Our body sense of what is true is not based on the clock, but the sun, and standard time is built around the sun."
For anyone struggling because of the anticipated switch, Stiehm recommends starting to gradually shift.
"Start to shift your clock gradually," said Stiehm.
