Daylight saving time 2025 is starting: When do we 'spring forward' an hour?
Just a few months after daylight saving time ended in November, it's time to spring forward.
Daylight saving time begins this year on Sunday, March 9.
In the United States, daylight saving time begins annually on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
When daylight saving time begins in March, clocks "spring forward" one hour, bringing a shift in both sunlight and our body's circadian rhythms.
Here are 10 questions answered about the upcoming time change.
1. When does daylight saving time start in 2025?
Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 9, with clocks rolling forward one hour at 2 a.m.
With the change, it will stay lighter later in the evening across the United States. The first day of spring this year occurs March 20.
2. Do we gain or lose an hour of sleep when we 'spring forward'?
When clocks "spring forward" to start daylight saving time, people lose one hour of sleep.
On the eve of daylight saving time, falling asleep at 10 p.m., for example, will really be like falling asleep at 11 p.m., once clocks roll forward one hour at 2 a.m.
3. How long does daylight saving time last?
Daylight saving time will continue through Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. At that time, clocks again fall back one hour.
4. Are there any deals for daylight saving time?
Yes, businesses including Grubhub, Burger King, Kroger and Starbucks are helping customers spring forward with special savings.
Kroger, for example, is offering customers a Kroger Hour Back Box, a pre-packed box of time-saving essentials that includes coffee, frozen breakfast sandwiches and a one-year Kroger Boost membership complete with free delivery and more.
Customers can visit the specialty site here to claim a free Kroger Hour Back Box that will be shipped directly to their door, while supplies last.
5. What is daylight saving time and when did it start?
Daylight saving time became established law in the U.S. in 1918 with the passage of the Standard Time Act, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory's astronomical applications department.
The time change was implemented as a way to maximize daylight hours to help save on energy consumption during World War I.
Over the next several decades, legislators made unsuccessful efforts to repeal daylight saving time nationally, and some individual states and cities reverted to non-daylight saving time hours.
In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which established a uniform daylight saving time throughout the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the federal agency that oversees time zones.
Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states that observe daylight saving time must follow the federally-mandated start and end dates.
States may also "exempt themselves from observing daylight saving time by state law," according to the DOT.
6. Is the U.S. going to permanently end daylight saving time?
In 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a measure, the Sunshine Protection Act, that would have made daylight saving time permanent across the U.S., however, the legislation was never brought to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A few weeks prior to taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump wrote on social media that he would work to put an end to daylight saving time and make standard time year-round.
"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't!" Trump wrote in a Dec. 13 social media post. "Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation."
7. Is it daylight saving time or daylight savings time?
Daylight saving time is often mistakenly pluralized as daylight "savings" time.
The correct way to say it is "daylight saving time."
8. What states do not follow daylight saving time changes?
Hawaii and Arizona -- with the exception of the Navajo Nation -- are the only two states in the nation that do not participate in daylight saving time, according to the DOT.
In addition, five U.S. territories also do not participate in daylight saving time: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
9. What are the potential health risks of daylight saving time, and how do I adjust?
Some health experts argue that daylight saving time disrupts the body's natural day-to-night rhythms.
In 2023, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine formed a coalition to advocate for state and federal legislation making standard time permanent across the U.S. Other organizational members include the National Sleep Foundation, Save Standard Time, Sleep Research Society and Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
The shift in time has been associated with increased heart attacks, strokes, abnormal heart rhythms, sleep disruption, mood disturbances and even suicide, according to a position statement published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula recommends that ahead of changing the clock, people gradually shift their bedtime 15 minutes earlier each night to allow for more sleep.
In the days immediately following the start of daylight saving time, Narula said people should get outside early in the morning for sunlight and avoid alcohol, caffeine and screens, like televisions and phones, before bedtime.
Narula added that it's also OK to take naps if you feel fatigued due to the time change, but try to limit the nap to around 20 minutes and take it before 2 p.m.
10. As a parent, how do I help my child adjust their sleep?
Younger kids in particular can be thrown by the change in time, but there are steps that parents and guardians can take to help, according to parenting expert Ericka Sóuter.
Sóuter recommends encouraging more physical activity during the day to ensure kids are tired at bedtime, serving healthy food options to kids during the day and shutting down devices at least one hour before bedtime.
Sóuter said it's also important that kids keep their regular sleep schedule over the weekend and that they have a dark, comfortable place to sleep at night. For parents of young children, Souter said they can also consider shortening their kids' afternoon naps.
