Ready to Turn Back Time?

Cher famously sang “If I Could Turn Back Time,” well, this weekend, there’s no ‘if’ about it! November 5 marks the end of Daylight Saving Time and the return to Standard Time.

Before you go to bed on Saturday night, turn your clocks back one hour.

Many of us will welcome the extra hour of sleep, but experts say the switch can have damaging effects on your health.

“Just that one hour can change the amount of sleep you get, the quality of sleep that you get,” said Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep researcher at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. She does say that “falling back” is easier than “springing forward.”

Still, off-kilter sleep can affect people’s ability to multitask, stay alert, and even maintain their balance, making them more prone to accidents.

Congress has talked bout making Daylight Saving Time permanent and doing away with the idea of gaining an hour and then losing an hour. The bill is currently idle in a House committee.

Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time.