The clocks go back this Sunday, and I am already dreading it. It will get dark super early in the afternoon, and even though the mornings will be a bit lighter, the evenings just feel gone. I always feel groggy for a week after the change, and my commute home in the dark does not help my mood at all. Do you prefer keeping daylight saving time year-round, or would you rather stick with standard time? How does the change affect your sleep, your commute, or your kids?
Sleep researchers mostly lean toward permanent standard time, since morning light helps keep the body clock steady. The practical tricks for the switch week: get outside in daylight around lunch, go to bed 15 minutes earlier a few nights before Sunday, and for kids shift bedtime gradually rather than all at once. The dark commute is the hardest part — a brighter lamp at home in the evening helps a bit with the mood.
If the dark commute is the worst part, a sunrise-style alarm or a bright light near the breakfast table can help reset your body clock faster. Also worth knowing: Congress has debated making daylight time permanent (the Sunshine Protection Act) for years, but it keeps stalling, partly because the US tried permanent DST in 1974 and dropped it within a year when people hated the dark winter mornings.
I don't like it either — the early darkness always throws me off for a week or so. I'd much rather keep one time year-round and stop switching back and forth. — Ryan C.
Russia is a useful case study here: in 2011 it stopped switching and stayed on summer time all year, and by 2014 it reversed course to permanent standard time because people hated going to work and school in the dark for months. So 'pick one and stop switching' works, but which one you pick matters a lot in winter. Most sleep experts would vote for standard time.
Quick reminder for US readers: the switch happens early Sunday, November 1, at 2:00 a.m. — clocks go back to 1:00. Phones update on their own, but oven, car and wall clocks don't. If you take medication at a fixed time, it's worth checking how to handle the extra hour.