The clocks will soon “fall back” to the end of Daylight Savings Time this week, but when exactly will the time change?

Under the terms of 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 goes forward or back one hour.

This year, the end date falls on November 3, with the clocks going back an hour at 2 a.m., giving Illinois residents an extra hour of sleep.

Here’s what you need to know:

What happens after the time change?

The end of daylight saving time marks a transition back to standard time in Illinois.

Standard time, according to Time and Date, “is the local time in a country or region in which daylight saving time (DST) is not in use.”

In some countries, standard time is known as winter time or normal time. Summer time is then called summer time.

“More than 60% of the world’s countries use standard time all year round,” the site says. “The remaining countries use daylight saving time during the summer months, with clocks generally set one hour ahead of standard time.”

When does summer time start again?

Daylight saving time returns to the Chicago area on March 9, the second Sunday in March.

By then, the city will experience almost 12 hours of daylight again and sunset will occur just after 7 p.m.

Which states do not observe daylight saving time?

The annual time change will occur in Illinois and almost every U.S. state except two:

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, also do not observe daylight saving time.

Why do we change the clock every year?

Daylight saving time has been around for more than 100 years; According to the Library of Congress, it was originally founded in 1918 to save energy costs during World War I. The law was repealed about a year later due to the end of the war, but was reimplemented during World War II. It was instituted to save fuel and ‘promote national security and defense’ and was therefore called ‘wartime’.

The law was repealed a second time after the end of the war so that states could set their own standard time, according to the Library of Congress.

Daylight saving time later became standard in the US until the passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandated standard time across the country within established time zones.

What is better: summer time or standard time?

The topic of daylight saving time versus standard time has been hotly debated, especially in recent years when legislation proposed the possibility of switching to permanent daylight saving time.

Sleep experts have advocated permanent standard time in some cases. But some experts say switching to permanent daylight saving time would be even worse.

“Permanent standard time would basically mean that we were on, I think, biologically correct time all year round. And I’m going to say biologically correct because our bodies are more accustomed and have evolved to be at what would be by the considered standard time for years,” Dr. James Rowley, professor of medicine at Rush University and former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, told NBC Chicago in an interview “Permanent daylight saving time, the specific problems arise in the winter . It’s great to have ‘the extra hour of sunlight’ in the evening, although I always remind people that we have, you know, the same amount of sun in the summer. , whether it’s daylight or standard time, but that seems to be an hour later. But in winter, sunrise is much later, and that is very problematic biologically, because we need sunshine in the morning to set our circadian rhythm for the day. .”

Previously, proposed legislation called for permanent daylight saving time, but that legislation ultimately failed and no new legislation has been proposed for a vote.

So the clock continues to change twice a year.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has been pushing for a switch to permanent standard time for years.

“By causing the human body clock to become out of tune with the natural environment, daylight saving time increases risks to our physical health, mental well-being and public safety,” said Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, chairman of the AASM Public Safety Committee and a pulmonary, sleep medicine and critical care specialist at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis, said in a statement. “Permanent standard time is the optimal choice for health and safety.”

Experts cited a “growing body of evidence” in recent years.

“Permanent standard time helps synchronize the biological clock with the rising and setting of the sun,” says Dr. James A. Rowley, president of the AASM, said in a press release. “This natural synchronization is optimal for healthy sleep, and sleep is essential for health, mood, performance and safety.”

It also echoes similar insights from other organizations, including the National Sleep Foundation, which said that “seasonal time changes disrupt sleep health and should be eliminated.”

Permanent daylight saving time would lead to later sunrises in much of the US, with some states not seeing a sunrise until after 9am during parts of the year.

“Having sunshine in the morning helps us fall asleep at night. And the other problem, of course, is that it’s darker later in the morning, which brings its own problems with safety, driving and walking. Parents are certainly concerned about their children walking to school in the dark,” Rowley said. “If we were to adopt permanent daylight saving time, most of the United States would not have sunrise until after 8 a.m. and the northern states would. – you know, the especially northern states like Minnesota, Montana, the Dakotas – only have sunshine after 9 o’clock. And so the American Academy of Sleep Medicine strongly believes that we should have permanent standard time, not permanent daylight saving time.”

Still, Rowley noted that no legislation is currently being discussed to push for a move to permanent daylight time, so a change in the near future is unlikely.

With the clocks still changing, Rowley noted that there is increasing evidence that the body never fully adjusts to daylight saving time, even between spring and fall.

“Losing that hour of sleep (in the spring) for some people just makes them more anxious, some more depressed, some more irritable. So it can be quite problematic. The problem is that even in the long term, while we think that we are adapting to that change there is actually evidence that we are not fully adapting to the change, so we are still at increased risk for all of those things during daylight saving time,” he said. “Also, as I said before, we need sunshine in the morning to help us fall asleep at night. But in the summer, if we have light too late in the evening, it actually prevents us from falling asleep.” So if we have that ‘extra light’ in the evening actually prevents sleep. It also has long-term consequences.”