It’s almost that time of year again — time to turn the clocks back an hour and catch up on some much-needed rest.
Every year on the second Sunday of March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2 a.m. — becoming 3 a.m. — marking the start of daylight saving.
This year, DST kicked off on March 10 and will end Sunday, Nov. 3.
It will start up again on Sunday, March 9, 2025.
Changing the clocks ahead by one hour for the warmer months then back again for the cooler months is a tradition Americans have practiced for more than half a century, and something other countries, such as Germany and Canada, have been doing for longer.
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“In the United States, this has the effect of creating more sunlit hours in the evening during months when the weather is the warmest,” the National Institute of Standards and Technology reported.
History of daylight saving time in the U.S
While most of the country observes daylight saving time, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the state of Arizona, do not, with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does.
The tradition of changing clocks was formally introduced in the United States in 1918 and introduced as “Fast Time.
However, its use ended less than a year later, though cities such as Boston, New York and Pittsburgh continued to use it.
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In 1942, the concept was reintroduced under President Franklin D. Roosevelt under the term “War Time,” which held through 1945.
It was until the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was passed that America would establish a nationwide daylight saving time schedule.
The rules for daylight saving changed in 2007 for the time in 20 years after the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed — “extending the length of DST in the interest of reducing energy consumption,” according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The rules extended DST by about one month which is now in effect for 238 days, or about 65% of the year.
Daylight saving 2024 is less than a month away. Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com
How popular is changing the clocks twice a year?
In a 2023 YouGov poll of 1,000 Americans, 62% of participants said they no longer want to change their clocks twice a year.
Half of the participants said they’d prefer daylight saving time all year round while 31% favored standard time.
Changing the clocks is fairly unpopular.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, many states are trying to stop having the clocks switch.
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Last year, three bills were proposed to establish permanent standard time in Massachusetts, but none passed.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts lawmaker, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, joined by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., touted their plan, the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationwide.
The bill cleared the upper chamber last year, but is now stuck in committee, the Washington Post reported.
“The antiquated biannual ritual of toggling between times isn’t just an inconvenience — it also has very real impacts on our economy, our energy consumption and our health,” Markey said in a statement.
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Ending the annual clock switch has popular support, with nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) to a 2021 Economist/YouGov saying they favored getting rid of daylight saving time.
Sleep experts, meanwhile, say that chronically sleep-deprived Americans could do with the extra shuteye.
“There’s a disconnect when we have to wake up early for work or school and it’s still dark outside and we want to sleep,” Beth Malow, a professor of neurology and pediatrics and director of the Vanderbilt University sleep division, told The Hill after the Senate vote in 2022.
That dawn’s early light “actually aligns us so that our body clocks are in sync with what’s going on in our environment,” Malow told the Hill.
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Publish date : 2024-10-13 23:06:00
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