Illinois residents will soon gain an hour when they set their clocks back at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 for the end of daylight saving time, which began in March.
By mid-November, the sun will set before 5 p.m. in Belleville.
After a period of unseasonably warm temperatures , Belleville has some cooler days and lots of rain in the forecast from the National Weather Service St. Louis office. The NWS reports the metro-east has a 33% to 40% chance of above-normal temperatures from October to December, while the popular Farmer’s Almanac predicts a colder season.
Lawmakers in the Land of Lincoln have introduced many bills aiming to end clock-changing, and U.S. senators have tried, too. Here’s what to know about the state of daylight saving time in Illinois.
Daylight saving time legislation in Illinois
Bills relating to daylight saving time often circulate the Illinois legislature. One example is House Bill 3321, which would exempt the state from required daylight saving time.
Some efforts against clock-changing have taken a different approach, however, such as House Bill 0216, which would institute year-round daylight saving time across the state.
Both bills were introduced in 2021, but died when the state’s 102nd General Assembly adjourned in January 2023.
These recent bills are far from the only effort to end clock-changing in Illinois, and the U.S. Senate has signed off on similar legislation for the nation . So far, Hawaii and Arizona are the only states in the country that don’t observe daylight saving time, and the Navajo Nation portion of Arizona does practice daylight saving.
The history of daylight saving
Daylight saving time was made a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports.
State governments cannot independently change time zones or the length of daylight saving time, the department reports, but they can exempt themselves from the practice.
“States do not have the authority to choose to be on permanent Daylight Saving Time ,” the U.S. Department of Transportation website reads.
Next year’s daylight saving time will begin Sunday, March 9, 2025 .
How does daylight saving affect sleep?
While Illinois residents will gain an hour Nov. 3, the time change might not actually translate to more sleep.
“There is little evidence of extra sleep” on the fall night when daylight saving ends, according to a 2013 article from the Sleep Medicine Reviews journal, and you might actually be losing rest.
“The cumulative effect of five consecutive days of earlier rise times following the autumn change again suggests a net loss of sleep across the week,” the article’s abstract reads.
The end of daylight saving time has also been linked to other issues, such as increased collisions with deer , a 2022 article published by Current Biology reports.
While you might be less well-rested when the time changes this November, an article last updated in February by the Mayo Clinic Health System offers tips on how to reduce your sleep loss :
If you feel tired a few days after daylight saving time ends, take a 15- to 20-minute nap in the early afternoon.
Assess whether naps are helpful to you. Napping can hurt nighttime sleep for some people, while others may benefit from short naps.
Make an effort to be well-rested before the time changes.
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