How to adjust when the clocks change

When the clocks go back, everyone talks about the extra hour of sleep, but there's little sign that people sleep any longer that night. People also tend to get up earlier for the next five days, so they probably end up with less sleep over the whole week ¹.

Still, the fall change is the easier of the two. In one study that followed 50 people through both changes, their sleep caught up with the new clock without much trouble in the fall ². The first few mornings are the part you'll notice. You'll probably wake earlier than usual ¹, so if you normally get up at 7, it may be closer to 6.

You can get ahead of that in the days before the change. Most of the plan is about getting outside late in the day instead of first thing. Then on Friday night, when you don't have an alarm the next morning, you move your sleep later.

When the clocks go back in 2026

Every EU country changes at 1 a.m. UK time, the same moment UK clocks go back ³⁴. The US ⁵ and most of Canada ⁶ follow a week later, on November 1.

If you live in British Columbia, your clocks won't go back on November 1, because the province has moved to daylight time all year round ⁷. Alberta reportedly has too ⁸, so if you live there, check your provincial notice. Hawaii and most of Arizona don't change at all ⁵.

The 3 days before the clocks go back

The Thursday and Friday before the change are October 22 and 23 in the UK and EU, and October 29 and 30 in the US. If you work those two days, I'd keep your alarm where it is. This week you want your body clock to move later, so change when you get light instead. Light does different things to your body clock depending on when you get it. Morning light sets it earlier, and evening light sets it later ⁹.

On a normal day I'd tell you to get outside as soon as you're up, but these few days are the exception. Save your time outside for the end of the day, before the sun goes down. At home, leave the lights up a little longer than usual before you dim them for bed. If you wake up before your alarm, keep the curtains shut and the lights off until it goes off.

Say you normally sleep from 11 to 7. Keep that bedtime on Thursday night, so you aren't short on sleep for Friday's alarm. Friday night is when you make the move, because there's no alarm on Saturday morning. Stay up until about 11:40 that night and sleep until about 8, then go to bed around midnight on Saturday night. The clocks go back an hour while you sleep, so on Sunday you get up at 7 by the new clock, with 8 hours in bed.

If your mornings are flexible, you can spread the move over all three days instead, getting up and going to bed about 20 minutes later each day from Thursday until you reach those Saturday times. A gentler version starts on Wednesday and moves 15 minutes a day. That's the one to use with young children, and their naps and meals can move along with it where daycare allows. A toddler who's up at 6 now will probably be up at 5 by the new clock on Sunday without it, so keep their room dark in the morning until their new wake time, for the same reason you keep yours dark.

If you wake up an hour early

If you didn't get to any of this, you'll probably wake around 6 on Sunday, because your body is still on the old time. I'd treat that hour as night. Stay in bed with the lights off and leave your phone alone until your usual time. Bright light that early moves your body clock earlier ⁹, and that keeps the early waking going. If you're wide awake and can't stand lying there, it's fine to get up, but keep the lights low for the first hour or so.

For the rest of that week, try to get some daylight late in the afternoon. The sun now sets an hour earlier by the clock, so that might mean stepping out for a few minutes on a break before it gets dark. Keep your usual alarm time all week, weekend included, even on the mornings you're awake before it, so 6 a.m. doesn't turn into your new wake-up time.

When the clocks go forward in spring

In 2027 the clocks go forward on Sunday, March 14 in the US and Sunday, March 28 in the UK and EU ³⁴⁵. Spring is the harder change. In that same 50-person study, daily activity didn't catch up with the new clock in spring, and night owls had the most trouble ².

Morning light sets your body clock earlier ⁹, so in spring you run the plan the other way. Start three days before and move your alarm and your bedtime about 20 minutes earlier each day. You still lose the hour, but it comes off 20 minutes at a time instead of all at once on Sunday. Get outside soon after you're up, and if it's still dark that early, turn on your brightest lights and head out when it gets light. In the evening, dim the lights a little earlier than usual. Night owls can give themselves four days instead and move 15 minutes at a time.

Is the US going to stop changing the clocks?

The clocks will still go back on November 1 ⁵, because the bill to stop changing them hasn't made it through Congress. The House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent, on July 14, 2026, by 308 votes to 117 ¹⁰. The bill went to the Senate's commerce committee the next day, and the Senate hadn't voted on it by mid-October 2026 ¹⁰.

In 2020 the American Academy of Sleep Medicine came out for ending the changes by keeping standard time all year round instead, which is the time the clocks go back to this fall ¹¹.