The clocks are moving backwards this weekend, bringing an extra hour of sleep to those who are able to stay tucked in.
Daylight saving, which began its current period on September 28 last year, will end at 3am on Sunday when clocks will then be turned back one hour to 2am.
As a result, it'll get light earlier in the mornings - for a while at least - while the sun will set earlier in the evenings.
In Christchurch, sunrise moves from 7.49am on Saturday to 6.50am on Sunday, while sunset shifts from 7.15pm to 6.13pm.
in Auckland sunrise moves from 7.36am on Saturday to 6.37am on Sunday, while sunset goes from 7.10pm to 6.09pm.
It’s a time-changing tradition some people may not think about too much – so it may come as a surprise that we first observed daylight saving 99 years ago this year.
It’s also been the subject of debate, with experts having differing opinions on changing the clocks and how it impacts human health.
So, why does daylight saving still occur? What’s the goal – and why have some places overseas scrapped it altogether?
A history of daylight saving in Aotearoa
Daylight saving starts at 2am on the last Sunday of September and ends at 3am on the first Sunday of April, giving us 27 weeks of daylight saving annually.
But it's taken a few twists and turns to land on this current system.
Daylight saving lore has it that an entomologist by the name of George Hudson first came up with the theory of shifting the clocks forward. He was apparently keen for more time in the day to collect insects.
Hudson initially presented his idea for shifting the clocks forward to the Wellington Philosophical Society all the way back in 1895.
This idea eventually gained some traction, culminating in the Summer Time Act of 1927, when New Zealand first observed daylight saving time.
In 1941, daylight saving was extended to cover the whole year round as part of emergency regulations to conserve energy during World War II.
That time, which was 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), was eventually adopted as New Zealand Standard Time in 1946, effectively ending the country’s first experiment with daylight saving.
New Zealanders then had a reprieve from changing the clocks twice a year until the 1970s, when the global energy crisis prompted the official reintroduction of daylight saving in 1975 after a trial in 1974. The rationale was that longer summer evenings would mean fewer lights needing to be switched on.
And New Zealand has not looked back since. In fact, the annual period of daylight saving has been extended a few times since the 1970s.
The argument remains that shifting the clocks forward in spring each year avoids wasting sunlight in the early hours of the day when many people are still asleep.
What does the rest of the world do?
Around 70 countries currently observe daylight saving time, usually those who are closer to Earth's poles and more at the mercy of seasonal variation in daylight hours.
But some places have moved to scrap the practice altogether.
In the US, the Sunshine Protection Act was introduced in 2022 to make daylight saving time permanent there, but it's yet to pass into law.
In the Canadian province of British Columbia, however, a change was made earlier this year to move to permanent daylight saving time.
This was done, according to the province's premier David Eby to improve people’s overall health, reduce disruptions for families, and stop the “significant amount of chaos” the clock changes have on “already busy lives”.
Should we still partake in daylight saving?
Experts have differing opinions on how New Zealand should deal with daylight saving.
Some, such as American Neurologist Dr Jocelyn Cheng, are supportive of a change to a permanent standard time rather than having daylight saving, due to health risks.
"Our bodies have a natural, what we call circadian rhythm, I think a lot of people have heard the term, and what that is is an internal clock that areas of our brain as well as individual cells in the rest of our body run by, so it's generally a bit over a 24-hour cycle," she explained to Breakfast in 2022.
Rather than daylight saving, Cheng argued at the time New Zealand should move to a permanent standard time due to the health risks.
Another expert, Auckland University professor Guy Warman, said if New Zealand switched to a permanent daylight saving time, similar to the Canadian model, "it would be certainly worse for our circadian health" during the winter months.
"I think the key is that if we were in summertime the whole of the year, then we wouldn't be getting light in the morning, where it is really important to adjust our circadian clocks on a daily basis," he told 1News earlier this year.
"I think there needs to be further studies done on not just the negative, but the positive effects of changing from summertime to wintertime, and to make a balanced decision therein."
Instead, Warman suggested the debate should focus on other lifestyle factors which are proven to be harmful, such as reducing excessive shift work, or repeated timezone shifts.
Will my phone know that Daylight Saving is happening?
Your smartphone should automatically adjust to the correct time, but you can check its settings to make sure.
For Android users: Go to Settings, System, Date & Time, then make sure it has Set Automatically switched on.
For iPhone users: Go to Settings, General, Date & Time, then make sure Set Automatically is toggled on.
What if I'm at work when the clocks change?
If a person is working when daylight saving ends on Sunday at 3am, they are generally entitled to be paid for an extra hour worked.
When the clocks go forward again in September, someone would work one hour less, but would be generally entitled to be paid for a full shift.
Everyone else can try to enjoy an extra hour of sleep when the clocks go back – unless they are parents of young children woken by their kids' normal sleep cycle.
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