Daylight Saving Time

Now that Daylight Saving Time is changing the second Sunday in March at 2:00am and revert back on the first Sunday in November, I wondered why we even observe this at all. What happened to REGULAR time?

Daylight Saving was originally started in 1966 when most of the United States observed Daylight Saving Time from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. The main idea was to make better use of daylight so that during the summer we move one hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Also, it does save energy by decreasing the electricity usage by a small amount (about 1% per day).

Some people, however, intensely dislike DST. They argue that the sleep patterns take time to adjust and there has been some evidence that the severity of auto accidents increases and work productivity decreases as people adjust. And since we are up later in the evening, the energy used to cool homes in warm areas could increase energy costs.

DST was first introduced in 1918 during WWI, but was later repealed in 1919 due to its unpopularity. It was then reintroduced in 1942 to 1945, year-round and was called “War Time.” Each state could choose to implement DST or not and also choose when it began and ended. This caused great confusion.

The following states and territories DO NOT observe DST: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Arizona does also not observe DST, but the Navajo Nation does.

As for me, I hate it in the Spring and love it in the Fall. Just because of sleep reasons!

BTW - The official name is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time)

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