Daylight saving time officially comes to a close before dawn Sunday. Clocks fall back one hour at 2 a.m Nov. 1, meaning people get an extra hour of sleep.
It also means there will be more light in the mornings now, and it will get dark earlier in the evening.
Most cellphones make the change automatically. People with analog clocks should set them an hour earlier manually.
While many will welcome the extra sleep, others may have hoped we’d have seen an end to this twice-annual clock changing practice by now. Daylight saving was first adopted in the U.S. through the Standard Time Act of 1918. Numerous efforts over the years have sought to put an end to it.
A bill moving through Congress called the Sunshine Protection Act revives an effort to make daylight saving time permanent, although it’s unlikely to pass this year. Under the proposal, clocks would move an hour forward in March as they normally do, but then would remain there indefinitely, meaning later sunrises and more evening daylight in the winters.
Advocates say it would help maximize daylight hours for activities after work and school. President Trump has pushed for the change, and earlier this month urged people in Arkansas to call what he said was the personal cellphone of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark), who has opposed the bill on the grounds that it would mean kids going to school in the dark.
Others, including sleep scientists and doctors, have proposed making standard time permanent rather than daylight saving time, saying the move would be better for sleep cycles and reduce health risks. Other research has shown permanent daylight saving could lead to more vehicle collisions with pedestrians because of darker morning commutes.
States have long had the option to opt out of daylight saving time with congressional approval, although most of America observes it. Hawaii, most of Arizona, and U.S. territories do not change their clocks.
Californians voted in 2018 to allow lawmakers to end daylight saving time, but since then, several efforts to put the change into effect have failed.
Daylight saving time begins again on March 14, 2027.
