It may still feel like summer is in full swing, but fall is just around the corner and with it comes shorter days and longer nights.

On Sunday, November 3rd, we say goodbye to daylight saving time again and welcome the return to standard time.

Daylight saving time began in the United States on March 10. Although there were attempts in Congress to make the time change permanent, no such measure was passed, so we will be turning the clocks back for the next few months.

Here’s what you should know:

When does daylight saving time end?

Under federal law, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and lasts until the first Sunday in November in most parts of the United States.

This year, that date falls on Sunday, November 3. That morning, at 2 a.m., the clocks will go back one hour.

When will daylight saving time be reintroduced?

In 2025, on March 9, daylight saving time will be reintroduced and the clocks will be put forward.

What is daylight saving time?

Daylight saving time is a time change that usually begins in the spring and ends in the fall. This is often referred to as “spring forward” or “fall back.”

According to the provisions of the Energy Policy Act 2005, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

On these days the clocks are either set forward or back one hour.

But it wasn’t always like this.

Previously, the clocks were put forward on the first Sunday in April and remained that way until the last Sunday in October, but the change was introduced in part to give children more daylight while playing trick-or-treating.

In the USA, daylight saving time lasts a total of 34 weeks, from early/mid-March to early November in the states where it applies.

Some people like to call Benjamin Franklin the inventor of daylight saving time when he wrote in a 1784 essay on saving candles: “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But this was meant more as satire than serious thought.

Germany was the first country to introduce daylight saving time during World War I on May 1, 1916, to save fuel. The rest of Europe soon followed.

The United States did not introduce daylight saving time until March 19, 1918. It was unpopular and was abolished after the First World War.

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

Daylight saving time did not become standard in the United States until the passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandated standard time nationwide within specified time zones. It stipulated that clocks would be moved forward one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in April and moved back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.

States could still opt out of daylight saving time as long as the entire country did so. In the 1970s, due to the 1973 oil embargo, Congress passed a trial period of year-round daylight saving time from January 1974 to April 1975 to save energy.

In which states does daylight saving time apply?

Almost all U.S. states observe daylight saving time, with the exception of Arizona (although some Native American tribes 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 of a country or region that does not observe daylight saving time.

“More than 60% of the world’s countries use standard time year-round,” the website says. “The remaining countries use daylight saving time and generally set their clocks forward one hour from standard time.”

According to AASM, it is the standard time that better corresponds to our body’s internal clock.

“The daily cycle of natural light and darkness is the most powerful timekeeper for synchronizing our body’s internal clock,” says the Illinois-based organization. “When we have more light in the morning and more darkness in the evening, our bodies and nature are more in sync, making it easier for us to wake up for our daily activities and easier to fall asleep in the evening. Daylight saving time disrupts our internal clock, leading to lack of sleep and poor sleep quality, which in turn has negative health consequences.”

Which is better?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has been calling for a permanent switch to standard time for years, arguing that there is “numerous evidence of the negative short-term consequences of seasonal time changes.”

The AASM warned that “the permanent adoption of daylight saving time ignores potential health risks that can be avoided by the adoption of permanent standard time.”

“Current evidence strongly supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which is most consistent with human circadian biology and provides clear public health and safety benefits,” the group said in a statement.

But according to the Ministry of Transport, daylight saving time has a number of advantages. The ministry’s website highlights the following:

• It saves energy. During daylight saving time, the sun sets an hour later in the evening, so less electricity is needed for lighting and household appliances. During daylight saving time, people spend more time outdoors in the evening, which reduces household electricity consumption. Also, because the sun rises very early during the summer months, most people don’t get up until the sun has already risen, which means they turn on fewer lights in their homes.
• It saves lives and prevents traffic accidents. During the summer time, more people commute to school and work and run errands during the day.
• It reduces crime. During the summer time, more people are out and about going about their business during the day than at night when crime is more prevalent.

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

Jacobson wrote this opinion piece for The Hill, urging lawmakers to compromise on the time change.

“Why not compromise in the middle, as we have proposed here, namely a change of 30 minutes?” said Jacobson.

“It doesn’t fully address the negative effects of circadian rhythms that doctors worry about. At the same time, it corrects the balance of light that people prefer either early or late in the day,” Jacobson added.

One potential problem with a 30-minute shift is that we will no longer be in sync with our other North American neighbors.

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