Floridians can expect to lose one hour of sleep with the annual return of daylight saving time early Sunday. Clocks in most of the country will “spring forward” at 2 a.m., bringing a later sunrise and longer evening light.
When is it?
Daylight saving time starts annually on the second Sunday of March and continues until the first Sunday in November, when clocks “fall back” an hour to standard time.
What is it?
As its namesake suggests, daylight saving time is intended to make greater use of available natural light, lending an extra hour before sunset for outdoor activities.
The practice was first implemented in the United States in 1918 to conserve electricity and coal during World War I. It was repealed the next year and briefly returned during World War II before becoming standardized under the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
Hawaii, Arizona (aside from the Navajo Nation) and several U.S. territories do not participate in daylight saving time.
What are the effects?
Experts say our bodies can struggle to adjust to the new time, which puts our circadian rhythm, or internal clock, out of sync with our societal clock.
“So many of us are already starting off sleep deprived,” University of Florida neurologist Dr. Michael Jaffee told Radio Health Journal in 2021. “If we go to a springtime daylight saving time where we lose another hour, there can be some more immediate repercussions for those first several days.”
Intensified sleep deprivation from the hour lost can mean lowered productivity and more motor vehicle accidents as a result of fatigue, Jaffee said.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine advocates for a national, fixed, year-round standard time.
Who wants to end the time change?
Congress has tried – and failed – to make daylight saving time the permanent standard time across the country.
The latest effort, the Sunshine Protection Act, was most recently introduced in January by Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. In the House, a companion bill was introduced days earlier by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota., and six other Florida representatives.
In 2022, the act passed in the Senate but failed to make it through the House. Then-Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida unsuccessfully reintroduced the bill in 2023, while a companion bill in the House similarly died in committee.
Copyright 2025 WUFT 89.1
