Californians Gain One Hour of Sleep as Daylight Saving Time Ends

Dave LeMote wipes down a post clock at Electric Time Company, Inc. in Medfield, Mass., on March 7, 2014. Most Americans will set their clocks 60 minutes forward before heading to bed Saturday night, but daylight saving time officially starts Sunday at 2 a.m. (Elise Amendola/AP Photo)

Despite a majority of California voters’ approval in 2018 to end setting their clocks twice a year, the daylight saving time change returns this Sunday, Nov. 6, at 2 a.m. when clocks “fall back” to standard time across the United States.

Daylight savings is the practice of setting clocks an hour ahead to take advantage of the natural extension of daylight hours during the summer. This usually happens in March and lasts until November when the clocks are set back again by an hour.

The only states in the U.S. that have stopped the practice are Hawaii and Arizona, except on the Navajo Nation reservation.

By 2021, 33 states had introduced legislation to end clock changes, and nineteen states voted to pass it. This includes California, Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Idaho, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, and Florida.

However, legislative action by these states is pending until the U.S. Congress officially allows permanently eliminating or adopting daylight saving time.

The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, passed by the U.S. Senate this March, still requires discussion and passage by the House of Representatives and President Joe Biden’s signature. It would make daylight saving time the new, permanent standard time—starting Nov. 5, 2023—except for states already exempt from the twice-a-year time changes.

Howie Brown adjusts the time on a clock back one hour for the end of daylight savings time at Brown's Old Time Clock Shop in Plantation, Fla., on Nov. 2, 2007. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Daylight saving time was first introduced during World War I as an effort to save coal by reducing the need for artificial light in the evening.

The practice continued in the U.S., originally beginning on the last Sunday of April, and ending on the last Sunday of October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended the daylight saving period—now spanning from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November—though most countries in western Europe continue to follow the original schedule.

Daylight savings is still practiced to conserve energy since it is expected that fewer lights are used when there’s more sunlight in the evening.

However, a study conducted in Indiana found that daylight savings no longer saves energy, but rather slightly increases electricity consumption because people turn on the air conditioning on hot summer evenings. Some other government studies have shown a decrease in energy consumption, but only by one percent or less.

Reportedly, daylight saving shifts also lead to more car accidents—a Cell Press study in 2020 show a 6 percent increase—the week after the time change, as people adjust to either less sleep or lower light levels than normal.