Daylight saving time (DST) is ending, and with it comes shorter days, longer nights, and some headaches when it comes to time differences.
Here are some things to keep in mind to readjust to standard time and prepare for the inevitable repeat in March.
Time Differences
One thing to keep in mind is that not all U.S. states and territories use DST. Most of Hawai’i and Arizona, as well as territories such as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, do not observe daylight saving time. As a result, the time difference between these places and places that do observe daylight saving time will be different.
At least one thing almost all Americans can agree on is the fact that daylight saving time is terrible.
Sleep and Health
This applies more to instances when the clock moves forward, but it is something that we should take into account. Americans are already sleep-deprived compared to people of similar nations, and daylight saving interrupts that sleep schedule.
It’s not just because of the lost hour of sleep either. NPR reports that the medical community advocates for the end of daylight saving time, as “standard time” is more in line with the body’s natural sleep cycle.
“There’s more sleep deprivation and poor quality sleep when you’re more misaligned. And that in itself has effects that last the whole time we’re on daylight saving time,” Dr. Karin Johnson explained in an interview with Scott Simon.
Check Your Fire Alarms
In addition to changing your clocks, many fire departments suggest taking daylight saving time as a chance to change the batteries in your fire alarms and carbon monoxide monitor to make sure they’re always fresh.
While the embedded video was made for ‘Springing Forward’ into daylight saving, it’s still a good breakdown of why now, more than ever, you need to have working smoke alarms. For one, Thanksgiving and Christmas are days that tend to have a lot of house fires due to kitchen activity and/or faulty electronics. Even after the holidays are over, winter is still considered to be house fire season, and thus people should take the chance to check their alarms as we head into the chilly season.
Unfortunately, the Senate’s Permanent Sunshine Protection Act did not pass the House and therefore we will have to suffer through the changing of the clocks once more in March.
Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy the extra hour of sleep we get.
(featured image: Disney+)
