So long, daylight saving time. Hello, dark afternoons.

Daylight saving time officially ends Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 a.m. For most people, this means setting any clocks that require a manual touch back one hour before they go to bed tonight. The annual “fall back” to standard time with its sunnier mornings and darker afternoons will be in effect until DST restarts on Sunday, March 9, 2025.

Daylight saving time begins each year on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The time change is observed in every U.S. state except two – Hawaii and most of Arizona, where all parts of the state except the Navajo Nation make the change.

Studies show that the time change can be difficult on your body, making it harder to fall asleep and knocking your internal clock out of whack, the AP reported. Some health groups have pushed to do away with the time switch and are urging we stick to standard time.

“We know from decades of research that seasonal time changes are disruptive to our health,” said Dr. Karin Johnson, sleep medicine physician and co-chair of a coalition of sleep groups pushing to do away with time change. “The shift to daylight saving time in the spring has been linked to an increase in motor vehicle accidents, cardiovascular events, and medical errors in the days following the change.”

The coalition, made up of American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation, Save Standard Time, Sleep Research Society, and Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, points to a recent survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine that showed 64% of U.S. adults support eliminating seasonal time changes.

“There is tremendous support for eliminating time changes, but it’s important to understand that making daylight saving time permanent would be a big mistake,” Johnson said. “Our internal body clocks are synchronized by the natural timing cues provided by sunlight and darkness, so we never adjust to the artificial clock change caused by daylight saving time. Permanent daylight saving time would cause year-round problems for our sleep, alertness, mood and health.”

Why the change to DST?

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the switch to DST was formally introduced in the U.S. in 1918 as an energy-saving measure designed to put more daylight into times when people were outside. It ended after World War I only to be brought back during World War II. After the war, local jurisdictions were free to determine whether they observed DST and the dates they used.

The twice-a-year moving of the clocks, started to conserve energy during wartime, has grown increasingly unpopular in recent years and as many as 19 states – including Alabama – have drafted measures to do away with the practice. It will take congressional action, however, to permanently end the practice and, so far, federal lawmakers have been slow to act.