It’s that time of year again, folks! Tonight, we will spring forward one hour with Daylight Savings Time, so make sure to set your clocks before you go to bed tonight.
Here are 10 fun facts about Daylight Saving’s Time that you might find interesting:
- Benjamin Franklin was half-joking when he suggested a similar concept in a satirical essay.
- Official credit for the idea goes to a bug collector who was frustrated with the sun setting early in the summer, limiting his amount of time to catch bugs.
- Daylight Saving Time was pushed into law by World War I in a German effort to conserve coal.
- During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Daylight Saving Time gained renewed popularity in the U.S. as the government looked for ways to reduce energy consumption.
- Even though Daylight Saving Time was originally meant to save energy, research suggests it might actually be hurting the cause!
- Daylight Saving Time is actually bad for health, due to the one hour of extra sleep we lose by springing ahead.
- There is, however, a decrease in crime (robberies, especially) after the start of Daylight Saving Time!
- Though Daylight Saving Time has been widely accepted across the country, it is not mandated by federal law so, in Arizona, most of the state does not observe it.
- Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. in the hopes that the most amount of people are asleep when it occurs, therefore not messing with early work schedules and/or late restaurant and bar hours.
- Until 2007, Daylight Saving Time in the fall was on October 30th, right before Halloween; in 2007, the candy industry finally successfully lobbied Congress to move it to November!
