Unfortunately, next week we will be “losing” an hour of sleep. That’s right, your clocks will spring forward for Daylight Saving Time on March 10th! What does this mean? Well, you can expect longer days with the sun staying out later each night.
You might be asking yourself, who do I have to blame for losing an hour of sleep? According to Almanac, the true “founder” of Daylight Saving Time is William Willet. Willet became a proponent of the light-saving campaign when he was riding his horse early in the morning and noticed that the shutters on houses were sealed up, despite the Sun being out.
Willet would go on to lobby the English Parliament, businesses, and the U.S. Congress in support of saving daylight. Willet wrote, “Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shrinkage as the days grow shorter, and nearly everyone has given utterance to a regret that the nearly clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used… . That so many as 210 hours of daylight are, to all intents and purposes, wasted every year is a defect in our civilization. Let England recognize and remedy it.”
Willet suggested that society should move their clocks 20 minutes forward each of the four Sundays in April and reverse the process in September. Although spending a small fortune to promote this method, Willet was mostly met with ridicule.
Most popular, though, might be Benjamin Franklin’s “An Economical Project,” written in 1784, in which he advocated for citizens to wake at the crack of dawn in order to save the expense of candlelight.
It wasn’t until World War I that Daylight Saving Time was truly adapted and accepted. Both governments and citizens realized the importance of conserving coal used for heating purposes. In 1915, Germany officially adopted the light-extending system and the next year, Britain introduced their verison, which is known as British Summer Time.
The United States followed in suit in 1918 when Congress passed the Standard Time Act. This established time zones, despite public opposition. A Congressional Committee was formed to research the benefits of Daylight Saving Time. The general public viewed Daylight Saving Time as absurd. Advocates for Daylight Saving Time advertised it as the more natural option and an extension of summer.
Ultimately, Congress was able to officially declare that clocks would be moved one hour ahead at 2:00 A.M. on March 31, 1918. To combat its effects, Americans were encouraged to turn their lights off and go to bed at an earlier time than normal.
A common misconception about Daylight Saving Time is that farmers are at the root of its creation. Farmers were actually strongly against the time change and opposed it from the beginning. After WWI ended, farmers began to openly speak out against Daylight Saving Time. Opponents most often identified the gap between urban and rural citizens, as the change impacted the two communities in significantly different ways. The pushback resulted in the initial Daylight Saving Time experiment lasting only until 1920, being repealed primarily due to opposition from dairy farmers.
When World War II came around, Daylight Saving Time was once again implemented to save fuel. After this, Daylight Saving Time seemed to stick on a state-by-state basis. Then, in 1966 Congress passed the Uniform Time Act which established a consistent use of Daylight Saving Time. States like Hawaii and Arizona did not change their clocks. Additionally, some residents of Indiana opposed the idea.
Daylight Saving Time as we know it today was established with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that went into effect in 2007.Generally, Americans spring forward on the second Sunday in March and fall back on the first Sunday in November. Check out how your sunrise and sunset times will change here: https://www.almanac.com/astronomy/sun-rise-and-set
Today, there are still many opponents of Daylight Saving Time. As of January 2023, 19 states have passed bills that would end the practice of switching clocks. Even the Senate passed a permanent end to Daylight Saving Time, but it was not taken up by the House. To stay up-to-date on the current Daylight Saving Time policies, click here: https://www.almanac.com/states-object-changing-clocks-daylight-saving-time
For now, we are left to deal with longer summer days at the expense of losing an hour of sleep in March. The time change can come along with some difficulties. So, as we spring forward on March 10th, check out this list of ways to combat the struggles of Daylight Saving Time: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm/how-to-prepare-for-daylight-saving-time
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