Daylight Saving Time Ends: See When The Sun Sets In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — It’s almost time to fall back — and return to the biannual debate over whether Americans should continue the practice of setting clocks back, as we will Sunday, Nov. 1, and forward for daylight saving time.

That means the sun will set at 4:56 p.m. in NYC Sunday, and rise again at 6:22 a.m. the next day.

Nov. 1 is the earliest date possible for the end of daylight saving time, which officially occurs at 2 a.m. But 2020 has reinvigorated the argument that Congress should make the switch back to standard time permanent.

Mental health experts warn that pandemic restrictions and job losses have already plunged America into a metaphorical darkness — a mental health disaster unseen in our lifetimes.

In a mid-July KFF Tacking Poll, 53 percent U.S. adults said their mental health had been negatively affected due to worry and stress over the pandemic, a jump of more than 20 points from March, when the national mental health advocacy nonprofit added the question to polling.

The poll revealed some other mental health red flags: 36 percent had difficulty sleeping; 32 percent had difficulty eating; 12 percent increased their use of alcohol or drugs; and 12 percent said chronic conditions had worsened due to worry and stress over the coronavirus.

Winter depression is real, even without a pandemic. The days will continue to get shorter as we move toward the winter solstice on Dec. 21; and falling back to standard time makes the change more abrupt, triggering for many seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, a type of depression that occurs during the late fall and early winter.

The exact cause of SAD isn’t known, but research suggests limited sunlight is a reason, and the symptoms usually dissipate as the days grow longer and daylight saving time returns on the first Sunday in March.

“SAD is not a minor condition, but because people typically experience it only during certain months, they don't see it as a serious issue. However, it is imperative to treat,” Dr. Paolo Cassano, a psychiatrist who specializes in low-level-light therapy at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, told Harvard Health Publishing.

The pandemic has energized a movement to make daylight saving time permanent. Several states have passed legislation to do away with the twice-a-year time switch, but these laws can’t take effect until there’s change in the federal statute. The13 states where legislatures have approved bills favoring year-round DST are Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

California's voters authorized year-round DST in 2018, but action on the referendum is still pending in their state Legislature.

In New York, a bill introduced in the state Senate by Sen. James Skoufis, D-Cornwall, is in committee. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent, calling it "Atlantic Standard Time."

Skoufis said part of the discussion of the bill would have to include New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut since commuters from those states are going to and from locations in New York. But he feels that if New York makes the change, other states will do the same thing.