Americans sprang forward Sunday in the controversial annual tradition of daylight saving time, prompting over a dozen senators to re-up their push to “lock the clock” and make the change permanent.

“We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said last week as he renewed his efforts to end the practice.

Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the days warm into summer.

Where did this all come from, though?

How we came to move the clock forward in the spring, and then push it back in the fall, is a tale that spans over more than a century — one that's driven by two world wars, mass confusion at times and a human desire to bask in the sun for as long as possible.

As 2024's daylight saving time starts, most of the U.S. will change the time on clocks — but there are two states and several territories that do not observe daylight saving time. 

Come Sunday, people across the country will move clocks forward an hour and lose an hour of sleep. Daylight saving time ends, with clocks moving back an hour, on Nov. 3. The twice annual clock change isn't observed everywhere in the U.S. 

On Sunday, Nov. 5, most of the U.S. will dial back their clocks an hour in order to "fall back" to standard time as part of the nation's semi-annual ritual of changing the time.

While much of the analysis surrounding America's twice-a-year clock changes covers the health effects of Daylight Saving Time (DST) – which includes a higher risk of cardiac issues amid disrupted sleep schedules – the economic toll has not received as much focus. 

Here comes the end of Daylight Saving for 2022, a Sunday morning most of us enjoy because we get an extra hour to sleep in.

Catching up on sleep each November, however, is the only good thing that comes with Daylight Saving or DST (it’s singular, not plural, by the way).

Springing forward and falling back creates havoc with airline and train schedules, confusing people, costing money, and causing accidents and delays.

More traffic fatalities occur every time we switch the clock, because motorists are too sleep deprived to drive safely.

State legislatures, sleep scientists and the public all seem to agree that the annual rite of springing forward and falling back has got to go. But the nation has not found consensus on what should replace it. 

Nineteen states have passed laws or resolutions in the past five years to make daylight saving time permanent if Congress — and, in some cases, other states — permits the change. Two states, Arizona and Hawaii, have long followed permanent standard time, which the law already allows. 

Earlier this year, the Senate passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent. The idea of ending clock changes and sticking to one time was met with celebration — until scientists pointed out that such a change could cause a nationwide case of seasonal depression, learning loss and physical health problems.

The semestrial ritual of changing the clocks is approaching once more for millions of Americans, as daylight saving time ends on Nov. 6. But if some lawmakers have it their way, it’ll be the last time that happens.

Every year, on the second Saturday in March, the clocks spring forward an hour, robbing people of an hour of sleep. On the first Sunday of November, they fall back, giving them an extra hour of sleep. This phenomenon, dubbed “daylight saving time,” aims to give people more hours of sunlight. On Nov. 6 at 2am, daylight saving officially ends across most parts of the US.

Permanently moving to daylight-saving time is likely to cause more harm than good when it comes to our health, sleep science indicates.

For years, researchers have bemoaned the biannual changing of the clocks, saying shifting just one hour is linked to a slew of negative health effects, including an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. But when the U.S. Senate recently passed a bill to make daylight-saving time permanent, sleep experts became more alarmed.  

Legislators picked the wrong time, they say.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are getting behind a bill that would impact every resident in the U.S.:  A permanent switch to daylight saving time beginning in November 2023. Aside from avoiding the nuisance — and sleep deprivation — of changing clocks twice a year, the effort could give the economy a boost, lawmakers say.