Remember to Turn Back

Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. local time the first Sunday in November. The idea behind daylight savings time is to maximize sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere, as days start to lengthen in the spring and then wane in the fall. This year daylight savings comes to an end on November 7th.

Have you ever wondered why this all started? Benjamin Franklin first came up with the idea to reset clocks as a way to conserve energy. Although, even with his “discovery” that the sun provides light as soon as it rises (who would have thought), daylight savings did not officially begin until the early 1900’s. Many presidents in the U.S. wanted to keep daylight savings in effect, but as a surprise to many in today’s time, farmers objected to this because they lost an hour of valuable light in the morning.

So, the question is should we keep or rid ourselves of the time change?

Research has suggested that with more daylight in the evenings, we have less traffic accidents, crime rates reduce, and exercise increases. But, with extended evening daylight, we utilize air conditioning systems longer which accounts for a larger chunk of energy than consumption of lighting. So, which time would we choose? Standard time or daylight savings time? The research also notes, the consistent changing of time disrupts a person’s circadian rhythm and that disruption can lead to potential health issues.

So, the million-dollar question: What should we do?

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