Wherever you’re reading this, whether that’s a condo in Lionshead, an office in Dallas, or a beach chair in Florida, this Saturday night at precisely 2 a.m., time will politely back up and let 1 a.m. happen again. Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1, and for one glorious night, every clock in America agrees to pretend the last hour never happened.
(Unless you’re in Hawaii or most of Arizona, which skip this whole circus and stay put year-round. We see you, and we’re a little jealous.)
And yes, it lands on Halloween night. Which means somewhere out there, a guy in a homemade avalanche-beacon costume is getting a bonus hour of Halloween he absolutely does not need. Plan accordingly.
A ritual almost nobody likes
If you grumble about changing the clocks, you’re in excellent company. An AP-NORC poll found that only about one in eight American adults actually like the twice-a-year switch. That’s a lower approval rating than a two-hour I-70 traffic jam on a powder Saturday.
Your phone will handle this on its own. Your microwave, your car dashboard, and that oven clock you haven’t touched since 2019 will not. They’ll now be correct until March 14, when we spring forward and they go back to being wrong.
Meet your other clock
Deep in your brain sits a master clock that runs your circadian rhythm, a roughly 24-hour cycle that decides when you’re sleepy and when you’re sharp. It also has opinions about your heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones, and metabolism. And it doesn’t care what your microwave says. It runs on light.
Morning light sets the clock. In the evening, your body releases melatonin, the “time for bed” hormone, but too much light at night (screens, overhead lights, one more episode) delays it and throws things off. Fun fact: this rhythm shifts with age, which is why the toddler who wakes you at 5 a.m. somehow becomes a teenager you can’t drag out of bed before noon.
When the clocks change, your body spends a few days quietly confused, like a first-time visitor stepping off the gondola and trying to figure out which way the village is. Most people adjust the way they shake off jet lag. And fall back is the easy one. The spring switch, when we lose an hour, is the rough one.
How to win the time change, mountain-style (no mountain required)
Get outside in the morning. Morning sun is the single best way to reset your internal clock. If you are in the Valley, that means coffee on your deck with a view of the mountains.
Wherever you are, a walk around the block counts just as much and will make your dog happy. Can’t get out? Sit by a window and pretend you’re in a ski-lodge brochure.
Don’t burn the extra hour in bed. Sleeping in past sunrise Sunday just keeps your body confused longer. If you wake up early, take the hint and get up.
Ease in if you’re a planner. Shifting bedtime by just 15 minutes a night around the change can smooth things out. If you’re reading this Friday, you’re a little late, but nobody has ever regretted going to bed early.
Respect the early sunset. After Sunday, sunset arrives an hour earlier, and in a lot of the country that means before 5 p.m. Dim the lights and go easy on the screens at night so your melatonin can do its job.
Be kind to yourself if the dark gets to you. Shorter days are genuinely hard for some people, and seasonal blues are real. Lean into the light, the outdoors, and your people, and talk to your doctor if it’s more than a funk.
Will we ever stop doing this?
Maybe, eventually, possibly. The U.S. House passed the Sunshine Protection Act in July to make daylight saving time permanent, but the Senate looks unlikely to take it up before year’s end. Meanwhile, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have long argued the opposite: that permanent standard time is better, because it lines up with the sun and human biology. Most Americans, given the choice, would rather keep their evening light. In other words, the debate is about as settled as which Back Bowl has the best powder.
The bottom line
Set the clocks back Saturday night, enjoy your bonus hour responsibly (looking at you, Halloween crowd), and get some morning sun Sunday. Your circadian rhythm will catch up soon. And darker evenings mean one thing for all of us, near or far: ski season is almost here!
