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When will the clocks go back? What you should know

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When will the clocks go back? What you should know

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LANSING – Daylight will break earlier and darkness will fall sooner, but a Michigan State University expert says Michigan's annual end to daylight saving time really isn't that simple.

This year, the autumn ritual of turning the clocks back one hour will take place on November 3rd and, as always, is part of the farewell to summer.

Schoolchildren wake up and spend less time in the dark. Evening athletes must equip themselves with lights and reflectors in order to be able to complete their training sessions safely.

It may not be as bad as the start of daylight saving time in the spring, when the “leap forward” has long been linked to car accidents and heart attacks due to lack of sleep.

However, “it is estimated that up to 15-20% of the population (in Michigan) actually suffers from seasonal depression, most of which are undiagnosed,” said Hanne Hoffmann, who studies the influence of light on our internal clocks as an assistant professor Animal Science at MSU.

“You can just have less energy or develop full-blown depression where you're suicidal,” she said. “It has to do with natural light and receiving that bright sunlight.”

To give you an idea of ​​the difference in sunlight, meteorologist Bob Dukesherer of the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids said 11 hours and 25 minutes of sunlight were recorded in the Lansing area on Tuesday. At the winter solstice in December it was 9 hours and 2 minutes.

“We lost over two hours of daylight,” Dukesherer calculated.

Hoffmann recommends a light therapy lamp, also known as a sad light, happy light and therapy light. They are available from retailers like Amazon at varying prices.

She said the equipment helps most people struggling with seasonal depression.

While not always popular, Daylight Saving Time has endured and is observed by almost all U.S. states from March to November each year.

Here's what you should know:

When does summer time end?

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on November 3, 2024, the first Sunday in November. This marks the return to standard time.

When will the clocks go back?

When local time reaches 2 a.m. on November 3, clocks will move back one hour to 1 a.m

Your smartphones, computers and smartwatches automatically adjust to the time change. However, if you have device clocks, old-fashioned clocks or analog clocks, remember to set them manually.

What is Daylight Saving Time?

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, daylight saving time is when “daylight” begins an hour later in the morning and lasts an hour longer in the evening.

This allows the daylight hour to be coordinated with the time when most people are active outside. Daylight saving time is intended to save energy because most people spend time outside and away from home during the warmer months, which saves energy.

When is the shortest day of the year in 2024?

The shortest day of the year marks the winter solstice, the first day of winter. This year it falls on December 21st.

When does daylight saving time start in 2025?

Daylight saving time begins again on March 9, 2025.

Is summer time ending?

The push to stop the time change was brought to Congress in recent years, when the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, a bill to make daylight saving time permanent.

Although the Sunshine Protection Act passed unanimously in the Senate in 2022, it did not pass the U.S. House of Representatives and President Joe Biden did not sign it.

A version of the law from 2023 also remained unsettled in Congress.

Does every state observe daylight saving time?

Not all states and US territories participate in Daylight Saving Time.

Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Due to its desert climate, Arizona does not observe daylight saving time (with the exception of the Navajo Nation). After most of the United States passed the Uniform Time Act, the state concluded that there was no good reason to change clocks so that sunset was an hour later during the hottest months of the year.

There are also five other US territories that are not participating:

  • American Samoa
  • Guam
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • Puerto Rico
  • US Virgin Islands

The Navajo Nation, located in parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, follows daylight saving time.

Hawaii is the other state that does not observe Daylight Saving Time. Due to its proximity to the equator, there is not much difference in daylight hours throughout the year.

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