At 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, the clocks fall back an hour. Most of us treat it as a gift: one more hour of sleep, free.
Your body doesn’t see it that way.
Researchers at Stanford Medicine modeled how permanent standard time, permanent daylight saving time and twice-a-year switching affect the body’s internal clock. Their 2025 study found that the switching is worse for health than staying on either time.
Their model estimated that permanent standard time would mean about 300,000 fewer strokes and 2.6 million fewer people with obesity.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine sides with standard time. It wants the country to stop changing the clocks twice a year and stay on standard time permanently, which it says fits human biology best.
Congress hasn’t settled the question. The House passed a bill in July to make daylight saving time permanent, but the Senate hasn’t acted on it. Here’s what it would mean if daylight saving time became permanent.
Until then, the clocks change, and you adjust. Here are six ways to make that adjustment painless.
1. Get bright light first thing in the morning
Light is the lever that resets your body clock, and timing is everything.
“When you get light in the morning, it speeds up the circadian cycle,” explains Jamie Zeitzer, a Stanford professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the senior author of the Stanford study. Evening light does the opposite and slows it down.
So the morning after the change, get outside or sit by a bright window. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says plenty of early sun helps reset your internal clock to the new hours.
A Mayo Clinic sleep specialist has recommended pairing that light with physical activity as soon as you wake up. A walk with the dog counts.
2. Keep your wake-up time steady once the change hits
The National Institute on Aging’s advice for older adults is plain: Keep the same bedtime and wake-up time every day, weekends and trips included.
That’s the trap with falling back. The “extra” hour tempts you to sleep in Sunday, stay up late Sunday night and let your schedule drift for a week. Once the clocks have changed, pick your wake-up time and stick to it.
3. Shift gradually this week, not all at once
You don’t have to absorb the whole hour in one night.
If your schedule allows, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests starting the week before the change and pushing both bedtime and wake-up time 10 to 15 minutes later each day. A few days of that, and Sunday’s extra hour lands more gently.
If you’re dragging, a short nap can help. The same group says a brief nap of 15 to 20 minutes is fine, but a long nap or one late in the day can scramble your sleep schedule.
The National Institute on Aging specifically advises against napping in the late afternoon or evening.
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4. Dim your evenings
Once it’s dark at dinnertime, the temptation is to light up the house and the screens until bedtime. That’s working against you.
Evening light slows your body clock, according to Zeitzer. The CDC recommends shutting off screens a half-hour or more before bed, and the National Institute on Aging suggests keeping the TV, computer, phone and tablet out of the bedroom.
Lower the lights after dinner. Put the phone on the charger in another room. It’s free, and it works with your biology instead of against it.
5. Be extra careful on the darker drive or walk home
Falling back moves darkness into the evening commute. That matters for anyone on foot.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, when standard time resumes, pedestrian deaths rise even as deaths of people inside vehicles drop. IIHS President David Harkey said pedestrians and bicyclists “are at greater risk in low light conditions.”
If you walk in the evening, take the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s advice: Wear something reflective or carry a flashlight after dark, and where there’s no sidewalk, stay on the side facing oncoming cars. If you’re driving, slow down and expect people where you can’t see them yet.
6. Know the signs of the winter blues
For some people, the darker evenings bring more than grogginess.
A nationwide Danish study of psychiatric hospital records from 1995 to 2012 found that the switch from summer time to standard time was linked to an 11% jump in hospital contacts for depression. The effect faded over about 10 weeks. The spring switch showed no similar jump.
Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that comes back in a seasonal pattern, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Winter symptoms can include oversleeping, overeating — especially carbohydrates — and pulling away from people. Treatments include light therapy, talk therapy, antidepressants and vitamin D.
If that sounds like you or someone you love, NIMH says to bring it up with a doctor or a mental health professional. Don’t just wait for spring.
The bottom line
The extra hour isn’t the problem. The switch is. And you don’t get a vote on that.
What you can do is get morning light, keep your wake-up time steady, ease into the change, dim your evenings and watch your step after dark. None of it costs a dime.
And while you’re changing the clocks, check one more thing: look at the back of your smoke alarm. If it’s 10 years old or more, it’s done.
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