Now that fall is in sight and Halloween is over for 2024, it’s time to turn back the clock. Get ready for darker afternoons and colder mornings: the annual end of daylight saving time has arrived.
Standard time returns in the fall, when the clocks are set back one hour, bringing about the seasonal motto of “falling back.” It can cause confusion as people across most of the country change their clocks and try to adjust to a new schedule. Here’s what you need to know about the fall time change.
When does daylight saving time end?
In the US, daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November at 2 a.m. local time. For 2024 that is tomorrow, November 3. Set a reminder in your calendar to change clocks that don’t change automatically. Many people find it helpful to change the clock just before bedtime rather than the next morning.
Things are a little different around the world: in Britain, daylight saving time ended last weekend, October 27. And Down Under, where it’s now spring, daylight saving time started a whole month ago, with the clocks going forward an hour. October 6 in much of Australia.
Here’s a handy list of other countries that observe daylight saving time, and when it ends and begins in 2024.
When will daylight saving time return?
Are you tired of the early darkness yet? The longest nights reach their peak on December 21, the winter solstice. Then it will gradually get lighter each afternoon until daylight saving time finally returns to the US on March 9, 2025.
Daylight saving time returns to Britain on March 30 and ends on April 6 for areas of Australia that observe it.
Standard time vs. daylight saving time
The Time.gov website shows the official US time and where the time zone boundaries are located.
The standardization of time in the US has a long and complicated history. The growth of railroads in America led to the creation of time zones in 1883. Daylight Savings Time was formally introduced in 1918, but increasingly fell out of favor and was applied inconsistently across the country until the advent of the Uniform Time Act in 1966. Through transportation improvements, this law mandated standard time within existing time zones and created a permanent established a system of uniform daylight saving time, including the dates and times for biennial transitions,” the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in a history of time zones.
See also: Does daylight saving time help with utility bills?
Arizona (excluding the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii remain on standard time year-round. The rest of the country is dealing with the impact of biannual clock changes. It’s not just sleep schedules that can suffer. There are many ways the transition to daylight saving time affects your health.
The specific dates for Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time may change each year. Daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The National Institute of Standards and Technology crunched the numbers and reports that daylight saving time is in effect 238 days, or about 65% of the year. This may make daylight saving time seem more standard than standard time, but we are stuck with the historical terminology.
Will we ever get rid of time changes?
Time changes are controversial. Many people have difficulty making the switch, especially when an hour disappears with daylight saving time in the spring. Here are some ways to regain your peace after losing an hour of sleep. Proponents of daylight saving time say it saves energy in the warmer months and provides longer “usable” daylight hours for outdoor activities. However, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has called for a standard time year-round to best match human circadian biology.
Politicians have made efforts to end the time changes nationally, but nothing has yet been written into law, and there is an ongoing debate over whether daylight saving time or standard time would be better. The U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 — a bipartisan bill that would make daylight saving time permanent — but that was it. “This ritual of changing the time twice a year is stupid,” Senator Marco Rubio, co-sponsor of the bill, said in 2023. Rubio continues to push for the legislation, but there are no signs of progress in 2024 booked.
Dealing with the fall time change
The “fallback” time change is usually seen as a good one because it feels like you’re getting an extra hour of sleep. That only works if you can ignore your usual wake-up time and sleep in on Sunday.
Check out these tips to combat fatigue after a time change. Building good sleep habits shouldn’t be reserved for time changes. Work on a healthy sleep routine all year long and those pesky clock switches won’t get you down as much. Unless Congress steps up, we’re stuck with a forward spring and a pullback for the foreseeable future.
