How daylight saving time changes affect you and what you can do about it
[October 27, 2026]
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
An extra hour of sleep is on the way for most Americans, though the
“fall back” to standard time will bring darker afternoons, too.
One tip: Try to get outside for some morning sun — it’ll help your body
clock reset faster.
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, which means
you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard
time will last until March 14, when we will again “spring forward” with
the return of daylight saving time.
There’s a lot of grumbling about the twice-a-year time changes. An AP-NORC
poll last year found that only 12% of American adults were in favor of
it, while almost half opposed it. Lawmakers in Washington took up the
issue yet again over the summer.
People often find the spring switch harder, losing that hour of sleep we
allegedly recover in the fall. But many people also mourn fall's end of
daylight saving time, when days already are getting shorter and moving
the clocks can mean less daylight after school or work for exercise or
outdoor fun. The poll found that, if forced to choose, most Americans
would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening.
But health groups, including the American Medical Association and
American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have long urged adopting standard
time year-round. That's because it aligns more with the sun, which rises
later in the winter, and with human biology, what's called the circadian
rhythm. Brighter mornings and less light at night are key to keeping
that rhythm on track, making it easier to wake up on time and stick with
healthy sleep patterns.
Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do —
mostly in North America and Europe — the date that clocks are changed
varies. In the U.S., Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t change and stay on
standard time.
Here’s what to know about the twice-yearly ritual.
How the body reacts to light
The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and
darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that
determines when we become sleepy and when we’re more alert. The patterns
change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into
hard-to-wake teens.
Morning light is key to synchronizing that internal clock. By evening,
levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering
drowsiness. Too much light in the evening — whether from later time
outdoors during daylight saving time or from artificial light like
computer screens — delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync.
And that circadian clock affects more than sleep, also influencing
things like heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones and metabolism.
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A woman plays with her dog at sunset, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, at a
park in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
 How do time changes affect sleep?
Even an hour's change on the clock can throw off sleep schedules
because even though the clocks change, work and school start times
stay the same.
Right after the spring change, darker mornings and lighter evenings
make it harder to fall asleep on time. Those first few days have
been linked to increases in car crashes and even an uptick in heart
attacks.
During the fall and winter, some people with seasonal affective
disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days
and less sunlight, often struggle.
Many people easily adjust to the clock switch, like how they recover
from jet lag after traveling. But a time change can add pressure on
shift workers whose schedules already are out of sync with the sun,
or those regularly sleep-deprived for other reasons.
About 1 in 3 U.S. adults sleep less than the recommended seven-plus
hours nightly, and more than half of U.S. teens don’t get the
recommended eight-plus hours on weeknights.
Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to heart disease, cognitive
decline, obesity and numerous other problems.
How to prepare for the time change
In both fall and spring, changing bedtimes by as little as 15
minutes a night in the days before the change can help ease into it.
But sunshine in the morning is critical to helping reset your
circadian rhythm for healthful sleep. If you can’t get outdoors, sit
by windows.
Will the US ever get rid of the time change?
Every year, there’s talk about ending the time change. The nation
even tried it in the 1970s, but it lasted less than a year after a
public outcry.
The latest attempt came in July, when the U.S. House of
Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Sunshine Protection Act,
which would make daylight saving time permanent. President Donald
Trump backs the idea and is pressuring reluctant senators to support
it, even posting the cellphone number of Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton,
an opponent, on social media.
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