It may still feel like midsummer, but fall is just around the corner, with shorter days and longer nights.

On Sunday, November 3, we say goodbye to summer time and welcome the return to winter time.

Daylight Saving Time began in the United States on March 10. There have been attempts in Congress to make the time change permanent, but no such measure has yet been passed. Therefore, we will have to turn the clocks back in the coming months.

You need to know this.

When does Daylight Saving Time end?

Under federal law, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and lasts through the first Sunday in November in most of the United States.

This year, that date falls on Sunday, November 3. At 2:00 AM, the clocks are set back one hour.

When will Daylight Saving Time resume?

In 2025, daylight saving time will start again on March 9 and the clock will be put forward one hour.

What is Daylight Saving Time?

Daylight Saving Time is a change of clocks that normally begins in spring and ends in fall. This change is also called “spring forward” or “fall”.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

On those days the clock is set one hour forward or back.

But it wasn’t always like this.

In the past, the clocks would go forward one hour on the first Sunday in April and would remain so until the last Sunday in October. However, a change has now been made so that children can go door to door during the day to collect candy.

In the United States, Daylight Saving Time lasts a total of 34 weeks. The period runs from early/mid March to early November in the states that observe Daylight Saving Time.

Some people like to credit Benjamin Franklin with inventing Daylight Saving Time. In 1784, in an essay on saving candles, he wrote, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But that was meant more as satire than as serious thought.

Germany was the first country to adopt Daylight Saving Time on May 1, 1916, during World War I, to save fuel. The rest of Europe followed suit shortly after.

The United States did not implement Daylight Saving Time until March 19, 1918. The time was unpopular and was abolished after World War I.

On February 9, 1942, Franklin Roosevelt instituted year-round daylight saving time, which he called “wartime.” This time lasted until September 30, 1945.

Daylight Saving Time did not become standard in the U.S. until the passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandated standard time throughout the country within designated time zones. The act stated that clocks would go forward one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in April and back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.

States could still exempt themselves from Daylight Saving Time, as long as the entire state did so. In the 1970s, because of the 1973 oil embargo, Congress instituted a trial period of year-round Daylight Saving Time from January 1974 to April 1975 to save energy.

Which states observe Daylight Saving Time?

Nearly every U.S. state observes Daylight Saving Time, with the exception of Arizona (although some Native American tribes do observe Daylight Saving Time in their territories) and Hawaii. U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

What is standard time?

According to the Time and Date website, standard time is the local time in a country or region when daylight saving time is not in effect.

“More than 60% of the world’s countries use Standard Time year-round,” the site says. “The remaining countries use DST during the summer months, generally setting clocks forward one hour from Standard Time.”

According to the AASM, this is the standard time that most closely matches our body’s internal clock.

“The daily cycle of natural light and darkness is the most powerful timing cue to synchronize our body’s internal clock,” the Illinois organization says. “When we receive more light in the morning and more darkness in the evening, our bodies and nature are more in tune, making it easier to wake up for our daily activities and fall asleep more easily at night. Daylight Saving Time disrupts our internal clock, leading to sleep loss and poor sleep quality, which in turn leads to negative health consequences.”

What is better?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has been advocating for a permanent switch to standard time for years. According to them, there is “ample evidence of the negative, short-term consequences of seasonal time changes.”

The AASM warned that “permanently imposing Daylight Saving Time overlooks potential health risks that could be avoided by instead imposing permanent standard time.”

“Current evidence supports the adoption of a year-round standard time that best matches human circadian biology and offers clear benefits for public health and safety,” the group said in a statement.

But according to the Department of Transportation, Daylight Saving Time has several advantages. The DOT website highlights the following:

• It saves energy. During daylight saving time, the sun sets an hour later in the evening, which means less electricity is needed for household lights and appliances. People spend more time outdoors in the evening during daylight saving time, which means less electricity is needed in the home. Because the sun rises very early in the summer months, most people wake up after the sun has already risen, which means they turn on fewer lights in the home.
• It saves lives and prevents traffic accidents. During summer time, more people travel to and from school and work and do errands during the day.
• It reduces crime. During daylight savings time, more people are outside during the day instead of at night, when crime is more likely to occur.

Sheldon Jacobson, Ph.D., a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said a compromise might be possible.

Jacobson wrote this op-ed for The Hill urging lawmakers to split the difference when it comes to time changes.

“Why not have a compromise in the middle, which is what we’ve proposed here, which is a 30-minute change?” Jacobson said.

“You don’t get the full negative effect of the circadian rhythms that doctors worry about, while at the same time disrupting the light balance that people prefer to have early or late in the day,” Jacobson added.

One potential problem with a 30-minute service is that we would be out of sync with our other North American neighbors.

“I’m confident that if we do that, Canada and Mexico will follow suit, especially Canada, which has such a long border, over 2,000 miles, with the United States,” Jacobson said. “And what we’ll see is a trend that can really impact and help everyone, because without change, we don’t have to worry about it twice a year.”