It’s that time of year again. On Sunday, most residents in the U.S., Europe, and several other countries across the world will lose a precious commodity—time. That’s because at 2 am, clocks will move forward one hour as daylight-saving time kicks in.
Although it might seem odd to deprive ourselves of sleep, the original theory behind daylight saving was that during the summer too much daylight was being lost to sleep. By ticking the clocks forward, more sleeping would occur in the dark, saving candles that would have been burned in the evening.
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Contrary to popular opinion, Benjamin Franklin did not invent daylight-saving time. The original idea is credited to New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, who first presented the idea to the Royal Society of New Zealand, though he suggested two hours instead of one.
The practice wasn’t actually implemented until World War I, when Americans began setting their clocks back as a way to conserve energy. After being repealed for a few years after the war, daylight saving was revived again in 1942 during World War II.
Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which formalized the start of daylight saving time on the last Sunday of April and the end on the last Sunday of October. After switching the start dates a few times, in 2007 Congress eventually settled on the start time to the second Sunday in March and the conclusion to the first Sunday in November.
For several years now, daylight saving has been a subject of controversy. There have been claims that the time change actually causes more harm than good, and many people are sick and tired of remembering to change their clocks twice a year.
A 2014 paper published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization found that daylight saving might not do much to conserve energy, and might even result in an increase of energy consumption – the original rationale behind the practice.
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Another study found that the disruption to sleep patterns may be causing fatal car crashes. Researchers discovered a spike in fatal traffic accidents during the six days following the start of daylight-saving time. Additionally, according to the American Journal of Cardiology, it may even cause heart attacks.
With all of these findings, it’s no wonder that a number of states are trying to abolish the controversial clock change. Currently, 13 states have legislation pending to either implement year-round daylight-saving time or cut the practice altogether, according to the Time Zone Report. None of these states are near the approval phase of the legislation.
One sticking point, though, is that federal law requires states to either skip daylight saving altogether, as Hawaii and most of Arizona do, or participate. States aren’t allowed to permanently stay on daylight-saving time.
But for now, don’t forget to change your clocks.
