Now that fall has officially arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s almost time to turn back the clock and mentally prepare yourself for the darkness that will arrive in the afternoon. So get ready to release Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time, the unofficial soundtrack to the annual ritual of daylight saving time coming to an end.

The return to standard time takes place in the fall and involves turning the clock back one hour – giving rise to the motto ‘falling back’.

It can be a daunting experience as people across most of the country change their clocks and try to adjust to a new schedule. Here’s what you need to know about the fall time change.

When does daylight saving time end?

Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November at 2 a.m. local time. For 2024, that falls on November 3. Set a reminder on your calendar to change clocks that don’t switch automatically. Many people find it helpful to change the clock just before bedtime rather than the next morning. As you make calendar updates, note the start of daylight saving time in 2025 on Sunday, March 9.

Standard time vs. daylight saving time

The standardization of time in the US has a long and complicated history. The growth of railroads in America led to the creation of time zones in 1883. Daylight Savings Time was formally introduced in 1918, but increasingly fell out of favor and was applied inconsistently across the country until the advent of the Uniform Time Act in 1966. Through transportation improvements, this law mandated standard time within existing time zones and created a permanent system of uniform daylight saving time, including the dates and times for biennial transitions,” the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in a history of time zones.

Arizona (excluding the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii remain on standard time year-round. The rest of the country is dealing with the impact of biannual clock changes. It’s not just sleep schedules that can suffer. There are many ways the transition to daylight saving time affects your health.

The specific dates for Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time may change each year. Daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The National Institute of Standards and Technology crunched the numbers and reports that daylight saving time is in effect 238 days, or about 65% of the year. This may make daylight saving time seem more standard than standard time, but we are stuck with the historical terminology.

Will we ever get rid of time changes?

Time changes are controversial. Many people have difficulty making the switch, especially when an hour disappears with daylight saving time in the spring. Here are ways to regain your peace after losing an hour of sleep. Proponents of daylight saving time say it saves energy in the warmer months and provides longer “usable” daylight hours for outdoor activities. However, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has called for a standard time year-round to best match human circadian biology.

Politicians have made efforts to end time changes nationally, but nothing has yet been written into law, and there is an ongoing debate over whether daylight saving time or standard time would be better. The U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 — a bipartisan bill that would make daylight saving time permanent — but that was it. “This ritual of changing the time twice a year is stupid,” Senator Marco Rubio, co-sponsor of the bill, said in 2023. Rubio continues to push for the legislation, but there are no signs of progress in 2024 booked.

Dealing with the fall time change

The “fallback” time change is usually seen as a good one because it feels like you’re getting an extra hour of sleep. That only works if you can ignore your usual wake-up time and sleep in on Sunday.

Check out these tips to combat fatigue after a time change. Building good sleep habits should not be reserved for time changes. Work on a healthy sleep routine all year long and those pesky clock switches won’t get you down as much. Unless Congress steps up, we’re stuck with a forward spring and a pullback for the foreseeable future.