Clock changes
Daylight Saving Time Starts: How Much Sleep Do We Lose?
On the night daylight saving time started in 2026, Americans got 11 minutes less sleep, went to bed 9 minutes earlier and got up 24 minutes later than on a typical Saturday night.
In the US and Canada, daylight saving time starts at 2am on the second Sunday of March and the clocks spring forward. We compared the night of the change with the Saturdays around it.
Updated daily · data to Nov 1, 2026 · How we measure
Sleep vs normal
−11 min
6h 28m vs 6h 39m
Wake-ups vs normal
+1%
4.3 vs 4.2 per night
Bedtime
10:17pm
−9 min vs usual 10:25pm
Under 6 hours of sleep
36%
+3 pts vs usual 34%
What the data shows
- Americans slept an average of 6h 28m, compared with 6h 39m on a typical Saturday night.
- 21% fell asleep after midnight, compared with 23% normally.
- The next morning, people got up at 8:59am on average, 24 minutes later than usual.
- 36% of sleepers got less than six hours, against 34% on a normal Saturday.
- The effect was smaller than in 2025, when the change in sleep was −14 min.
- Americans were hit hardest, losing 11 minutes of sleep.
Sleep in the nights around Daylight saving time starts (US & Canada) 2026
United States · dashed line is a typical Saturday
- Sleep
- Typical Saturday
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Night | Sleep | Wake-ups | Bedtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 28, 2026 | 6h 37m | 4.19 | 10:26pm |
| Mar 1, 2026 | 6h 29m | 4.14 | 10:12pm |
| Mar 2, 2026 | 6h 26m | 4.32 | 10:11pm |
| Mar 3, 2026 | 6h 26m | 4.19 | 10:11pm |
| Mar 4, 2026 | 6h 22m | 4.07 | 10:11pm |
| Mar 5, 2026 | 6h 27m | 4.07 | 10:11pm |
| Mar 6, 2026 | 6h 39m | 4.07 | 10:24pm |
| Mar 7, 2026 | 6h 28m | 4.26 | 10:17pm |
| Mar 8, 2026 | 6h 27m | 4.11 | 10:15pm |
| Mar 9, 2026 | 6h 26m | 4.08 | 10:15pm |
| Mar 10, 2026 | 6h 23m | 4.17 | 10:17pm |
| Mar 11, 2026 | 6h 29m | 4.17 | 10:18pm |
| Mar 12, 2026 | 6h 29m | 4.07 | 10:15pm |
| Mar 13, 2026 | 6h 42m | 4.05 | 10:23pm |
| Mar 14, 2026 | 6h 39m | 4.18 | 10:27pm |
Wake-ups in the nights around Daylight saving time starts (US & Canada) 2026
United States · average times sleep was broken per night
- Wake-ups
- Typical Saturday
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Night | Wake-ups |
|---|---|
| Feb 28, 2026 | 4.19 |
| Mar 1, 2026 | 4.14 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | 4.32 |
| Mar 3, 2026 | 4.19 |
| Mar 4, 2026 | 4.07 |
| Mar 5, 2026 | 4.07 |
| Mar 6, 2026 | 4.07 |
| Mar 7, 2026 | 4.26 |
| Mar 8, 2026 | 4.11 |
| Mar 9, 2026 | 4.08 |
| Mar 10, 2026 | 4.17 |
| Mar 11, 2026 | 4.17 |
| Mar 12, 2026 | 4.07 |
| Mar 13, 2026 | 4.05 |
| Mar 14, 2026 | 4.18 |
Sleep vs normal on Daylight saving time starts (US & Canada) 2026, by country
Minutes of sleep compared with a typical night
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Region | Sleep | vs normal | Wake-ups vs normal | Bedtime | Bedtime vs normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 6h 28m | −11 min | +1% | 10:17pm | −9 min |
| Canada | 6h 47m | +3 min | −3% | 10:33pm | −2 min |
Daylight saving time starts (US & Canada), year on year
United States · minutes of sleep vs a typical night
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Year | Night | Sleep vs normal | Wake-ups vs normal | Bedtime vs normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mar 8, 2025 | −14 min | −4% | −2 min |
| 2026 | Mar 7, 2026 | −11 min | +1% | −9 min |
Upcoming dates
- Daylight saving time starts (US & Canada) 2027Saturday, March 13, 2027
Frequently asked questions
When does daylight saving time start?
At 2am on the second Sunday in March in the US and most of Canada. In 2027 that is Sunday March 14.
How much sleep do we lose when the clocks spring forward?
The figures above show the change in total sleep compared with a typical Saturday night.
More sleep data
See how your own sleep compares
Sleepiest tracks your sleep automatically, no wearable needed, and helps you drift off with bedtime stories, meditations and sounds.
Figures are anonymised averages from Sleepiest app users who track their sleep, not a representative sample of the population. Nights are compared with the same weekday in the surrounding weeks. Groups with too few sleepers are never shown. Methodology