Mexico Got Rid of Daylight Saving Time. Should the U.S. End It, Too? Dan Diamond and María Gabriela Martinez - The New York Times
go to original March 9, 2024

The prospect of adopting year-round daylight saving time has reignited fierce debate: While most Americans agree that the switch must end, there is strong disagreement over whether clocks should be set permanently to daylight saving time or standard time. (iStock)

While Americans have spent more than a century living under daylight saving time, Mexicans have been far more ambivalent about clock changes. The country adopted daylight saving time in 1996 — copying the U.S. policy to spring forward in April and “fall back” in October — but its leaders balked when U.S. lawmakers extended daylight saving time by three weeks in 2007.

In Mexico, the Time Had Come

Mexico in 2022 moved to abolish the practice altogether, a shift backed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In a public messaging campaign, the Mexican president and top aides argued that the clock changes had led to health issues, educational problems such as student drowsiness, and other drawbacks. López Obrador’s administration released polling showing that 71 percent of Mexicans opposed daylight saving time.

“The first thing we should consider is that the choice of daylight saving time is political and can therefore be changed,” Jorge Alcocer Varela, Mexico’s health secretary, said at a news conference in July 2022.

“If we want to improve our health, we should not fight against our biological clock,” he added, arguing that daylight saving time was unnatural and calling for a return to “God’s clock” instead.

The president’s legislation was quickly taken up by Mexican lawmakers, such as Cuauhtémoc Ochoa Fernández, who helped shepherd the time change through the country’s legislature.

“Daylight saving time did NOT meet the savings that were promised to Mexicans; on the contrary, electricity costs increased and it affected their health,” Ochoa wrote in a social media post in October 2022, as government officials formally ended daylight saving time and much of Mexico prepared to “fall back” for the last time.

Some areas of Mexico, including cities near the U.S. border, have preserved daylight saving time.

One reason for Mexicans’ cool feelings toward daylight saving time: Their days are frequently sunnier than those of their neighbors north of the border, particularly in the darkest times of the year. That has led to less public pressure to shift hours in an attempt to stretch daylight.

For instance, on Dec. 21 — when Earth’s northern axis will be tilted the farthest from the sun all year — Mexico City will receive about 90 minutes more sunlight than Washington, because Mexico’s capital city is far closer to Earth’s equator.

Read the rest at The Washington Post

Related: Which Mexican States Still Observe Daylight Saving Time? (Mexico News Daily)

Related: Why Daylight Saving Time Is Worse for Your Body Than Standard Time (The Washington Post)

Related: Places Around the World That Opt Out of Daylight Savings - And Why (BBC)

Related: Daylight Savings: Health Effects and Tips (WebMD)

Related: Spring Splendor: Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit Awaken to New Brightness (Vallarta Lifestyles)