Daylight saving time begins Sunday
At 2 a.m. today – Sunday, March 8, 2026 – clocks in most U.S. states and many Canadian provinces leapt forward one hour. Daylight saving time (DST) began. The memory tool for your clocks is spring forward. Easy to do with clocks. Less easy – for many – with our own bodies. We hear that the number of car crashes increases with the start of daylight saving time. More people have heart attacks. Many report feeling groggy or off-kilter in the week following. Here are some tips that might help.
- Eat some good breakfasts this week!
- Get some sunlight.
- 3Keep up your exercise schedule.
- Drink extra water and limit caffeine, alcohol, and sugar.
- Manage your stress with whatever stress-busting techniques work for you.
- Go to sleep a few minutes earlier.
- Sleep in complete darkness, in a not-too-warm room.
- Get up at your usual time, no matter what the sunrise is doing.
- Don’t think in terms of what time it really is. As your alarm goes off at 6 a.m. Monday morning, try not to think it’s really only 5 a.m. Good luck!
Permanent DST starts now for parts of Canada
The province of British Columbia – Canada’s westernmost province, with the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Rocky Mountains to its east – announced a week ago that March 8, 2026, will be its final clock change. After springing forward today, officials say the province will remain on permanent daylight saving time and will not “fall back” in November.
So British Columbia joins the Canadian Yukon, which has observed permanent DST since 2020.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Canada, clocks don’t change, and standard time is the norm throughout the year. That includes most of Saskatchewan (including Regina and Saskatoon). And it includes specific pockets such as eastern Quebec, Southampton Island in Nunavut, and certain communities in Ontario. Those areas do not change their clocks.
The U.S. has tried permanent DST, too
During World War II, the U.S. observed year-round daylight saving time from February 1942 to September 1945. It was known as “war time.”
The U.S. again tried year-round daylight saving time in 1974, during an “energy crisis” experiment. It was a response to the 1973 oil embargo. President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, which put the U.S. on year-round DST starting on January 6, 1974.
The initial reaction was excellent, with a 79% approval rating in December 1973. But, once winter set in, the reality of pitch-black mornings became a major issue. In some areas, the sun didn’t rise until after 9 a.m. Public outcry grew over the safety of children waiting for school buses in the dark. After several high-profile accidents involving students, approval plummeted to 42% by February. So the experiment, originally intended to last two years, was cut short. President Gerald Ford signed a repeal, and the U.S. returned to standard time on October 27, 1974.
Today, most of the U.S. does make the switch to daylight saving time, with a few notable exceptions that stay on Standard Time year-round. Most of Arizona does not observe DST (the Navajo Nation is the exception and does change clocks). Hawaii does not observe DST. And many U.S. territories do not observe DST, including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The inventor of DST
Bottom line: Daylight saving time in the U.S. and Canada begins March 8, 2026. Here are some suggestions for coping with the time change.
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