Why Falling Back Is Harder Than It Sounds

On Sunday, November 1, we gain an extra hour of sleep. At 2 AM, the clocks fall back to 1 AM, and most of us welcome the bonus. However, your body may need a little convincing.

Meet your internal clock

Deep inside your brain, a 24-hour clock called the circadian rhythm quietly runs the show. It helps manage your sleep, alertness, hormones and more, and its favorite way to keep time is sunlight. Light tells your brain when to wake up and when to wind down. Shifting the clocks asks our bodies to follow a schedule the sun never agreed to.

Falling back is gentler than springing forward, since gaining an hour is easier on the body than losing one. Even so, it can nudge your sleep off course for a while. And with darkness arriving 1 hour earlier in the evening, some people notice changes in their energy and mood.

What the sleep experts want

Here is a twist: lots of sleep scientists would love to retire the clock change altogether. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine's position is that the United States should ditch seasonal time changes in favor of permanent standard time, which lines up best with our natural body clocks.

Stanford Medicine researchers crunched the numbers too. In 2025, they published an analysis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences comparing 3 options: permanent standard time, permanent daylight saving time and switching twice a year. Switching came in last. Either permanent option would be healthier, with permanent standard time helping the most people. Their models estimate it could prevent about 300,000 cases of stroke per year and result in 2.6 million fewer people with obesity. Permanent daylight saving time would deliver about two-thirds of that benefit.

Keep in mind these are model-based estimates, not results from a clinical trial. Still, they add to a growing pile of evidence that our clocks and our health are connected.

So will the clocks stop changing?

Not this year. Proposals in Congress to make daylight saving time permanent have stalled, and under current federal law the clocks change on the first Sunday in November. States cannot go permanent on daylight saving time without Congress, but they can choose permanent standard time, as Hawaii and most of Arizona already do. Here is the surprise: most of the federal proposals would make daylight saving time permanent, which is not the option sleep experts favor.

3 easy ways to ease into it

• Keep a steady sleep schedule. Try to keep regular bedtimes and wake-up times, even on weekends. Your body loves a routine.

• Get outside while it's light. Take advantage of the earlier sunrise for a morning walk or outdoor exercise. Natural morning light helps set your internal clock and promotes alertness.

• Wind down on purpose. Dim the lights and put the screens away before bed to help your body get ready for sleep.

Small habits like these can make the change easier on your body. When you turn back the clocks on November 1, remember that your body's clock may need a little time to catch up. In the meantime, enjoy that extra hour of sleep!