Daylight saving time ending: Roll those clocks back Sunday and get ready for early sunsets

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

You can get an extra hour of sleep this Sunday thanks to the ending of daylight saving time and a return to standard time, but that also means the sun will set an hour earlier — and that can have an effect on your health, says a local expert. 

On Sunday, you might see the sun setting as early as 4:40 p.m. in Chicago, according to Time and Date’s website. By the end of the month, the sun could be setting as early as 4:20 p.m. 

Unlike during the spring time change, where losing an hour of sleep can lead to increased risk of heart attacks, car accidents and more, gaining an hour of sleep is beneficial, said Amy Bohnert, professor of clinical and developmental psychology at Loyola University Chicago.

Benefits of more sleep include a better ability to focus, a boost in mood and better heart health, according to WebMD.

But the time change can also throw off our circadian rhythm, which “can alter our hormones,” she said.

That shift in circadian rhythm will make you feel hungry or tired at different times than before the time change.

For some people more sensitive to changes in light, the earlier setting of the sun can lead to seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression that happens during certain seasons, usually the fall or winter, which affects 5% of adults in the United States, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Less sunlight can increase fatigue, Bohnert said.

For some people, bright light therapy can be an alternative. Light boxes, which can be bought at stores or online, emit light which the body absorbs, Bohnert said. This can help regulate a person’s circadian rhythm.

In general, with shortened spans of sunlight, experts recommend going outside, getting as much sunlight as possible, exercising and limiting alcohol.

“The benefits of being outside in that light, I think, really can’t be stated enough in terms of how that helps with mental health and physical health and our circadian rhythms,” she said.

Some Chicago residents have gripes with the time change, which happens twice a year.

“I just wish we’d stay on one time all year-round. I don’t care which one it is. It seems to be completely pointless,” Michael Gorman, a resident of River North, said.

Gorman said it’s annoying to have to change the clocks around the house and that people might forget what time it is because of the time change. Overall, he said, he sees no benefits to having a time change.

In the city, where he has lived for more than a decade, the winter will lack sunlight regardless of a time change, he said.

“That’s why daylight saving is a ridiculous term, because you get the same amount of daylight, it just depends what you call it,” he said.

Chris Prentice, an Edgewater resident, said he prefers standard time but would also prefer there be no time change at all.

“Yes, I would rather we go back to standard time, and I understand that makes some people unhappy when the sun goes down earlier, but I would rather the sun come up earlier,” he said.

He said he would advocate for a national change with no daylight saving time, citing how “No one can remember which time zone Arizona is in at what time of year.”

Most of Arizona does not practice daylight saving time.

Cathie Sekendur, a resident of Lincoln Park, in a response to the Sun-Times’ newsletter, said she wished the time could remain the way it is now, on daylight saving time.

“I hate it and wish we could keep the time the way it is now. I hate it when it gets dark at 4:15 p.m. and always have. I’m old and grumpy, and daylight improves my mood,” she said.

Sekendur said she grew up in Atlanta, where the sun would set around 9:30 p.m., and hates not being able to see the sun in the daytime in the city. She also feels less safe in the dark, she said.

“It’s just too early to be dark,” she said.

Though your phones will likely update on their own, don’t forget to roll the clocks on your oven and microwave back an hour Sunday when you wake up. The official return to standard time is at 2 a.m. Sunday.