Is it already the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the U.S. to turn our clocks backward? According to the new DST procedure followed since 2007, it is not the time yet.

North Americans generally follow the DST procedure, with each time zone switching at 02:00 LST (local standard time) to 03:00 LDT (local daylight time) on the second Sunday in March, and back from 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November since 2007. Previously, daylight saving time was four to five weeks shorter.

Though most areas of the U.S. currently observe daylight saving time, Arizona, Hawaii and the territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are exceptions. But in Arizona, the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time.

From 1987 to 2006, DST in the U.S. began on the first Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October. The time was adjusted at 2:00 a.m. local time.

However, according to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, daylight saving time (DST) was extended in the U.S. beginning in 2007, which means DST ends on the first Sunday of November, i.e., Nov. 6, one week later than in years past. The time is adjusted at 2:00 a.m. (02:00) local time.

When Exactly to Adjust?

North Americans can adjust the clocks back from 1:59 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Nov. 6 morning. The time was originally chosen because it was practical and minimized disruption.

In the EU, clocks fall back from 1:59 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on October 30.

Commonly Reported Problems

Sleep Disturbances: The inconvenience of adjusting to a new schedule, esp. for those with sleep disorders including insomnia, can be a troublesome.

Auto Accidents: It has been alleged that auto accidents are likely to increase due to people's inability to adjust to new schedule.

Practical Difficulty: People find it annoying to reschedule their clocks twice a year.

Pets: Pets usually take weeks or even months to adjust to the new timing and could create quite a nuisance to the owners. Similar is the case with poultry farms.

Benefits Remain Disputed: Though DST's potential to minimize energy usage was believed to be one of the reasons for the U.S. and E.U. to make it a nation-wide practice, many recent studies have concluded that DST in fact increases motor fuel consumption or has no significant effect on reducing energy use.

Do we really need to observe DST?

Many have argued for and against the practice of DST, ever since it was proposed first in 1895 by an astronomer G.V Hudson.

Apart from the practical difficulties, many argued that the practice didn't make any sense and was an assault on logic.

A writer in 1947 noted, I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves. Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX, Sunday.

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