Daylight saving time has ended for 2023, as the clocks for millions of Americans "fell back" on Sunday, moving back an hour to create more daylight in the mornings.

The twice-annual time change affects the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. Sleep can be disrupted, schedules need adjusted and, of course, we're all affected by earlier sunsets. And although public sentiment has recently caused lawmakers to take action to do away with daylight saving time, legislative moves have stalled in Congress and daylight saving time persists.

Next year, daylight saving time will begin again in March, when we set our clocks forward and lose an hour of sleep.

Here's what to know about the beginning of daylight saving time in 2024.

What do we save, really?Hint: it may not actually be time or money

When does daylight saving time begin in 2024?

In 2024, daylight saving time will begin at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 10, and end for the year at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3.

What is daylight saving time?

Daylight saving time is the time between March and November when most Americans adjust their clocks by one hour.

We gain lose an hour in March (as opposed to gaining an hour in the fall) to accommodate for more daylight in the summer evenings. When we "fall back" in November, it's to add more daylight in the mornings. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, the spring equinox is March 19, 2024, marking the start of the spring season. As the Northern Hemisphere moves into spring, the Southern Hemisphere is opposite, and will move into fall.

Is daylight saving time going away?

The push to stop changing clocks was put before Congress in the last couple of years, when the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. Although the Sunshine Protection Act was passed unanimously by the Senate in 2022, it did not pass in the U.S. House of Representatives and was not signed into law by President Joe Biden.

A 2023 version of the act has remained idle in Congress as well.

Does every state observe daylight saving time?

Not all states and U.S. territories participate in daylight saving time.

Hawaii and Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) do not observe daylight saving time, and neither do the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.