Stoddard County, Missouri - It's that time of the year again. It’s time to change the clocks back, as we say goodbye to daylight saving time. At 2 a.m. Sunday (Nov. 5), the clocks “fall back” one hour and we return to standard time - “standard” being the time we use for only four months of the year.

The time change means we get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. If you’re an early riser and dislike waking up in the dark, you’ll be pleased to see much brighter mornings. But with daylight in short supply this time of year, setting the clocks back will rob us of even more evening light. Get ready for sunsets in the 5 o’clock hour and trekking home from work in the dark.

Why do we still bother with daylight saving time?

Whenever daylight saving time (DST) starts or ends, we hear the same debate about whether the system is worth keeping. Originally adopted in Europe and the U.S. to save energy during World War I, DST has long been controversial. Research now shows that switching the clocks twice a year saves little, if any, energy, and we often hear the practice is bad for our health. Some 70 countries around the world use daylight saving time, and in many of them, public debate about whether to keep the system has grown.