Neurologist Dr. Ptacek explains how "falling back" disrupts the 24-hour circadian clock, affecting mood and performance, with mitigation tips.

But the change is slow. Abrupt changes, flying east or west (which extends or shortens sunlight exposure, affecting melatonin), heat waves, cold snaps (raising or lowering core body temperature) or stress (which increases daytime cortisol) cause disruption in this regimen. We just haven’t evolved to cope with sudden changes.

One way to remember which way the clocks change is to say the phrase ‘spring forward, fall back’ to yourself, with fall in this case also meaning autumn. GMT will last until March 29 – the last Sunday that month – when the clocks go forward by one hour and we lose an hour in bed.

Shorter days and darker evenings: when the clocks go back, so does our enthusiasm for the gym and socialising. We tapped experts to find out why.

The Florida Panhandle will continue losing a couple of minutes of daylight each day, but the time change will bring sunset a full hour sooner. The Nov. 2 sunset will happen right at 5 p.m. in the Pensacola area, about one hour and one minute sooner than the previous day.