As you leave work on Monday, you may wonder who turned off the lights and feel decided disorientation. Relaxed. You are dealing with a classic case of normality, assures Philadelphia therapist Tonya Ladipo.

The clocks go back one hour on Sunday at 1:59:59 a.m., and with the return of standard time, our bodies undergo a dramatic reset that goes beyond simply adjusting to earlier sunsets and creeping darkness. “It feels like you’re shifting your entire schedule because you’re doing things at times that your body might not want to,” says Ladipo. Sound familiar?

Her recipe: focus on the positive sides.

It is not that we have lost any light. In fact, we’ve just been given the opportunity to discover more of what those who study these things say is the most therapeutic light of the day, courtesy of the early morning sun – not to mention a precious weekend hour.

Sunday is indeed a new day, with a cuticle of a nearly new moon visible in the daytime sky. You might even enjoy some “earthshine,” sunlight from Earth illuminating the dark part of the moon, casting mythically outsized early and late shadows. The sun works best at this time of year, when it is low in the sky.

Here are some reasons to believe that things will look better after an hour of recovery.

‘Earthshine’ may be visible in the sky above Philly

The moon isn’t necessarily known for its subtlety, but it will show its subdued side in the coming days, when a curved patch of it will be visible all day and after sunset.

Chances are you can see a translucent glow on the unlit part of the moon at dusk. That would be light reflected from Earth, as EarthSky explains, a phenomenon known as “earthshine.”

It is fitting that the moon gives us something in return, because she owes her life to us. As astrophysicist Edward Sion of Villanova University noted, the moon apparently formed from a piece of Earth that was launched into space when our planet was hit by a Mars-sized object. Moon rocks support this hypothesis, NASA says.

Supermoon IV, the last of 2024, will appear over Philly on November 15

There’s nothing subtle about a supermoon, and we’ll get the fourth in four months on November 15, when our satellite makes one of its closest approaches of the year and reaches the moment of fullness. This will be the last of 2024, and a special one. Not only will the moon appear about 30% brighter than when it is further from Earth, but it will rise around 4:20 p.m. and reach its peak brightness while most people are still awake, conspiring with bare trees to create intricate shadows.

The moon will rise even earlier on the 14th, at 3:45 PM, when it will be about 97% full, and just after 5:00 PM on the 16th, still 99% full.

Because they ride on an astronomical seesaw, the full moons shine longer and higher as the sun’s days shorten.

Will Philly get another shot at the aurora?

One reason so many people missed October’s dramatic aurora performance over Philly was that the show was so short. But an encore cannot be ruled out, space weather experts say. The longer nights increase the chance that they will be visible. NASA has announced that we are in the “maximum period” of the 11-year solar cycle, when “sunspot” activity is at a peak. Sunspots are solar storms that can throw large amounts of material toward Earth, igniting the Northern Lights.

The peak could last into the summer of 2026, said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “Regardless,” he said, “I expect plenty of opportunities for aurora observations in the coming months.”

And a more down-to-earth show seems to be going on in Philly

Apart from the drought, it’s hard to complain about an October with two cloudy days, and it looks like the sun will continue to rule the first week of November with pleasant temperatures.

Conditions this week should be ideal to admire the foliage, now reaching its peak in parts of the region, and its remains. Don’t miss the treetops during and just after sunset.

Get an extra dose of the best light of the day

There are many perspectives on vitamin D in the scientific literature, but everyone agrees that we need it, and the sun remains the best natural source. Experts in seasonal affective disorder and its smaller variant, the “winter blues,” which result from the loss of light at this time of year, recommend getting outside early and often, and the earlier sunrises offer more opportunities to do just that. Phyllis C. Zee, professor of neurology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, says early morning light is the best sunlight of the day because it shines in a “different spectrum” and is “more alarming.”

No matter what, said Ladipo, whose office is in Manayunk, make a point to get there at some point: The sun is a source of serotonin, the so-called feel-good hormone. She says she goes outside 20 to 30 minutes a day, rain, shine, snow or wintry combinations, even if her body resists it.

“Halfway through, I’m feeling grumpy and grumpy,” she said. But after feeling the light, “I’m glad I did this.”

Times keep changing, no complaints

For those who are tired of these time changes, we advise you to get used to them. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, state lawmakers have considered 700 bills that would ditch the switch and implement year-round daylight saving time if Congress ever grants approval.

That certainly won’t happen anytime soon; something about elections.

Pennsylvania has two such bills pending, and Michigan has one. Year-round daylight saving time probably wouldn’t be particularly popular in the town of Houghton, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where the sun rose at 8:39 a.m. Saturday. It is located on the western border of the eastern time zone. With all the daylight saving time, it would always rise at 9:39 on Christmas morning