7 Tips for Surviving the Fall Daylight Saving Time Change

Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov. 2. Here’s how to ease into the transition and adjust to darker days

Michelle Crouch and Alison Gwinn,

Updated October 29, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published March 12, 2021

/ Updated October 29, 2025

Autumn landscape abstraction. Fall back time. Daylight saving time.

Juan Moyano/Stocksy

Most Americans look forward to gaining the extra hour that comes with the end of daylight saving time (DST), which starts Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 a.m. local time.

When daylight saving time ends, standard time resumes. That means the sun will set earlier and it gets darker earlier. But many scientists believe any disruption in our circadian rhythms — our body’s wake and sleep cycles — can have a negative effect on our health.

The fall time change “isn’t associated with the same impact or level of disruption as the spring change, but it can still affect you,” says Michelle Drerup, a sleep specialist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Even if you try to use the extra hour to catch up on sleep, studies show you’re still likely to experience a net loss of sleep in the days after the change. That’s because you’ll wake up earlier, have more trouble falling asleep or wake up more often during the night.

In addition, the shorter days and early onset of darkness can leave you feeling moody, lethargic and irritable. One study found an 11 percent increase in depression episodes in the week following the November change.

Here are seven ways to ease into the time change and combat the potentially harmful effects of the end of DST.

1. Set your clock back on Saturday night

The people who tend to have the most difficulty with the fall time change are early birds — those who already go to bed early and wake up early, Drerup says. They often find themselves wide-awake an hour earlier than normal.

To help ease the transition, Drerup recommends changing your clock on Saturday night and pushing your bedtime back, rather than going to bed at your regular time.

If it’s difficult to stay awake, try doing something active, such as taking an evening stroll rather than sitting on the couch and watching TV, Drerup suggests.

2. Gradually adjust your bedtime

To make the transition less abrupt for your body, try to go to bed 15 to 20 minutes later each day for a few days leading up to the clock rollback, suggests Dr. Rachel Ziegler, a sleep medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic Health System.

Dr. Shalini Paruthi, a board-certified sleep medicine specialist and codirector of St. Luke Hospital’s Sleep Medicine and Research Center in St. Louis, says, “You should also begin to adjust the timing of other daily routines that are time cues for your body, like meals and exercise.”

3. Get outside

Many Americans, particularly those who work indoors all day, don’t spend much time in daylight after the fall time change because of the earlier sunset. “They may be leaving work when it’s dark, going to work when it’s dark — so they’re getting no light exposure,” Drerup says.

Sunlight tells our circadian rhythms when we’re supposed to be tired and when we’re supposed to be awake, Ziegler says. So try getting some exposure as soon as you can in the morning. “Sunlight helps reset your internal clock,” she says.

Light exposure has also been shown to improve the quality of your sleep and boost your mood. If you can’t go outside, get to a window or try a light therapy box.

If the time change affects you, get a good dose of morning light when you wake up in the spring and avoid that morning light until your new wake time in the fall, says Jamie M. Zeitzer, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and codirector of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences at Stanford University.

4. Maintain good sleep hygiene

Try to go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day and avoid any extra dozing before bedtime.

Keep your bedroom dark, quiet and cool. Limit your use of both alcohol and electronic devices before bed and adopt a calming bedtime routine.

“A good bedtime routine includes doing the exact same activities in the exact same order every night,” Paruthi advises. “Most successful bedtime routines are 15 to 30 minutes long. They help transition the brain from a go-go-go mindset to a more calm one, so you can relax and get some sleep.”

5. Get moving

Make the most of the light in the morning and use that extra hour for a morning workout, Ziegler suggests.

If you can’t exercise in the morning, it’s still a good idea to incorporate some activity into your day.

“Exercise has been shown in studies to improve sleep quality,” Paruthi says. “It’s recommended that we get at least 150 minutes of movement or exercise per week, which could be as simple as walking 30 minutes five days a week.”

If you feel an afternoon slump when it gets dark outside earlier than expected, avoid naps or too much caffeine, says Dr. Beth Ann Malow, a professor of sleep at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

“Instead, go for a brisk walk, as exercise wakes us up and also promotes sleep later that night,” Malow says.

6. Block out light

If sunrise wakes you up too early after the clock change, install some blackout curtains. Even easier: Don a sleep mask.

Your eyelids alone can’t block out all the light, research shows. In fact, the latest research indicates that sleeping in total darkness could do more than just help your sleep; it may also boost your cardiovascular and cognitive health.

7. Try not to stress

Try not to worry too much about the time change, Drerup says.

“Worrying about it actually just makes it worse for a lot of people,” she says. “You may feel a little off for a couple of days, but most people who don’t have chronic insomnia or a sleep disorder do pretty well.”

An end to time shifts?

Though efforts have been made to stop the nation’s shift between daylight saving time and standard time, nothing has happened, and most of the U.S. still moves the clocks forward and back each year. Some states and territories do not participate and therefore don’t change their clocks.

Zeitzer’s study published Sept. 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences compared permanent standard time, permanent daylight saving time and shifting biannually. Shifting is the worst for our health, the researchers said. Sticking with either permanent time would be better — and a permanent standard time would benefit the most people, they say.

A permanent standard time would prevent approximately 300,000 strokes per year and result in about 2.6 million fewer people having obesity, according to the study. Sticking with DST permanently would accomplish about two-thirds of that effect.

Zeitzer’s study evaluated only the impact of time policy on circadian-linked changes in health, but other aspects need to be assessed to get a bigger idea of what’s best, he says. Other factors to consider include the impacts on exercise, economics and safety.

An American Heart Association statement released Oct. 28 showed that disruptions to your circadian clock affect blood sugar regulation, blood pressure and inflammation. The disruptions can also affect your cardiovascular risk.

Changes in sleep and light exposure are linked to higher risks of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

DST returns next year on Sunday, March 8.

Editor's note: This article, first published March 12, 2021, has been updated with new information.

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Michelle Crouch is a contributing writer who has covered health and personal finance for some of the nation’s top consumer publications. Her work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Real Simple, Prevention, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Alison Gwinn is a contributing writer and health reporter and a longtime editor at such publications as The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Women’s Health, InStyle and Entertainment Weekly.