Ready for longer days and shorter nights? As we inch toward spring, it’s almost time to change those clocks again.
Standard time will give way to daylight saving time on March 13 at 2 a.m. in just about every state in the U.S.; Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t honor the biannual clock change, and therefore will get to stay on their current time.
While daylight saving time will usher in later sunsets for the months ahead — something many eagerly anticipate during the long nights of winter — it also means we’ll lose a precious hour during the weekend when the time change takes place.
Research suggests that the disruption can have negative impacts on people’s health, including sleep loss and heart problems. It can also mess with the body’s internal clock, which in turn is linked to obesity, depression and diabetes, among other issues, the Associated Press reports.
Additionally, studies have associated the period right after the time change with an increase of traffic accidents.
California and more than a dozen other states have moved to enact year-round daylight saving time, with measures being approved either by legislation or ballot measures. But without congressional action, states can’t simply move to DST due to the Uniform Time Act approved in 1966. Under the legislation, states are only permitted to remain in standard time all year, if they so choose.
Currently, there are bills looking to change that in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, but both have languished in committees for months.
So unless something changes, most of the U.S. will “fall back” into standard time again at 2 a.m. on Nov. 6.
