Last year, you might have heard that government members proposed to end the observance of daylight savings. However, none of the states ended up adopting this legislation. Now that we are almost reaching daylight savings again, you might be wondering more about it. Who invented it? Why? When was it implemented? Do we gain sleep, or lose it?
Usually, daylight savings occurs somewhere in the second week of March. This year, it falls on March 10, 2024 - in just two days! Unfortunately for us, right now we are going to lose an hour of sleep. But don’t worry - we’ll get that hour back in November when daylight savings ends! At 2 a.m., the clocks get pushed one hour forward. This is because, in 1918, when daylight saving was instituted, trains did not leave stations in New York at 2 a.m. So, the time was changed then, to lessen confusion. The idea of daylight savings was created in the mind of famed scientist Benjamin Franklin. Upon ‘discovering’ that the sun produces light from the moment it rises, he realized that by setting the clock forward, he was giving people one extra hour in the evening. I’m going to try to explain what happens: Because an extra hour was added, the ‘real-time’ is one hour behind what the clock says (so if the clock says 4 p.m., then the ‘real-time’ is 3 p.m.). So, you get an extra hour of productivity because your body essentially ‘gets tired’ an hour later. Anyway, he wrote a letter to the “Journal de Paris,” which was a French newspaper, about this. However, the true supporter of Daylight Savings was William Willet, an Englishman living in 1907. He came up with this while on a horse ride early in the morning. While riding, he noticed that, though the sun was rising, most houses’ shutters were still closed, like the people were sleeping. Willet did everything in his power to have the U.S. Congress change this, but he was mostly mocked for his idea. However, a few years later during World War 1 (W.W.1), Germany implemented daylight savings. Soon, the rest of Europe did as well. By the end of W.W.1, the U.S.A. also initiated this. At the end of W.W.2, daylight saving was implemented in every city in every state of the U.S.A. This caused a lot of confusion, forcing Congress to pass the Uniform Time Act in 1966. There is a lot of debate going on about whether daylight savings is helping us, or hurting us. A 2017 study showed that America saves just 0.33% of energy annually. And in some countries, it uses more energy to switch to daylight savings. It also costs more money since computer companies have to change the time on technology everywhere and maintain the computer systems. A 2006 study showed that it increased the demand for air conditioning and cooling in houses. On the other hand, some studies have shown that roads have become safer and pedestrian fatalities have decreased by 13%. Robberies decrease by 7% as well. Some suggest that daylight savings can promote an active lifestyle, which is very good for your health. Also, with the extra hour of daylight, artificial light is used less, which is better for the eyes and environment. Sources
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