At 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, daylight saving time (DST) ends across the United States (except in some areas, including Arizona and Hawaii), and clocks return to standard time. U.S. residents gain an extra hour of sleep, but they also face dark winter evenings, with the sun setting as early as 5 p.m.
At 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, daylight saving time (DST) ends across the United States (except in some areas, including Arizona and Hawaii), and clocks return to standard time. U.S. residents gain an extra hour of sleep, but they also face dark winter evenings, with the sun setting as early as 5 p.m.
Every year, clocks are moved forward one hour on the second Sunday in March ("Spring Forward") and back one hour on the first Sunday in November ("Fall Back"). The practice has a history of more than 100 years. Today, however, calls to abolish it are louder than ever, citing fatigue from the time change and disruption to the body's natural rhythms. This article takes a close look at the historical origins of daylight saving time, Americans' actual preferences, how it is applied around the world, and its modern significance and likely future changes.
1. From a Joke About Saving Candles to Conserving Wartime Resources: The Origins of Daylight Saving Time
The first person to conceive of the idea behind daylight saving time was Benjamin Franklin, known as one of America's Founding Fathers. While living in Paris, France, in 1784, he wrote a humorous essay for a newspaper suggesting that going to bed early and rising early would save candles.
The first person to propose it in a commercial and systematic way was British architect William Willett. In 1907, he published a pamphlet titled "The Waste of Daylight," setting out concrete proposals to use summer daylight hours to save on electricity costs and increase outdoor activity.
The first country to actually adopt daylight saving time at the national level was Germany in 1916, during World War I. To save coal used for lighting in wartime, it moved its clocks forward one hour. Major combatants such as Britain and the United States then adopted it almost simultaneously to conserve energy, and the practice spread around the world.
2. "We Don't Want to Change Our Clocks Twice a Year": 88% of Americans Oppose the Current System
In the United States, daylight saving time is more than a simple time adjustment; it is an everyday issue that sparks fierce debate every year. According to the latest surveys by AP-NORC and YouGov, only 12% of Americans support the current system of changing clocks twice a year. Nearly 9 in 10 Americans are tired of adjusting their clocks each time.
The approach Americans prefer is "permanent DST," in which the sun sets later all year round.
Prefer permanent DST (56%): These respondents like that long evening daylight allows for outdoor activities, shopping and exercise after work.
Prefer permanent standard time (42%): These respondents want to stay on standard time because an earlier sunrise in the morning makes commuting and going to school safer and better matches the body's natural rhythms.
3. Countries That Keep It vs. Countries That Scrap It: "Economic Boost" vs. "Body Clock and Health"
Currently, about 70 countries worldwide (including the United States, Canada, European Union member states and the United Kingdom) observe daylight saving time. The main reason they keep it is the particular conditions at high latitudes. In high-latitude regions such as Europe and North America, summer days are overwhelmingly longer than winter days, so extending evening daylight offers significant economic benefits by encouraging outdoor leisure activities, dining out and retail spending. Another main justification is that it reduces pedestrian traffic accidents and nighttime crime during the evening commute.
By contrast, South Korea, Japan and China, as well as Mexico, Russia, and the U.S. states of Arizona and Hawaii, do not observe daylight saving time or have abolished it entirely. Countries near the equator have no difference in day and night length between seasons, so adopting it offers no practical benefit. In addition, negative health effects have been documented, including sleep disorders, a sharp rise in cardiovascular disease and more workplace accidents right after daylight saving time begins in March. Russia officially abolished daylight saving time in 2014 and Mexico in 2022 for these reasons.
4. The Meaning of Daylight Saving Time Today and the Outlook for Change
If the core value of daylight saving time in the industrial era was saving energy such as coal and electricity, in modern society the paradigm has shifted completely, and it is now an issue of people's lifestyles and their right to healthy sleep. As air conditioning and IT devices have become commonplace, a series of studies have found that its energy-saving effect is negligible, and the physical and mental stress of artificially altering time is increasingly cited as the greater cost.
Experts expect the U.S. daylight saving time system to be reshaped in the direction of "abolishing the practice of changing clocks twice a year." In Congress, the Sunshine Protection Act, which would fix daylight saving time year-round, has already passed the Senate. Once differences between the Senate and the House, and the split with the medical community (the sleep medicine society argues for permanent standard time), are resolved, a unified measure is likely to be adopted.
Ultimately, instead of the confusion of artificially turning clocks back, the future is likely to bring a fixed time system, either "permanent daylight saving time" or "permanent standard time."