Don't Forget to Fall Back this Weekend!
It's that time of year again! Crisp Fall days, colorful leaves and oh yeah "falling back." Clocks shift back to Standard Time on Sunday, November 6, 2016 at 2:00 AM. This shift in time moves one hour of daylight from the evening to the morning hours and gives us that treasured extra hour of sleep! With the end of Daylight Saving Time right around the corner, let's take a look at the history of time change in our country.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) started in the USA in 1918 as a way to conserve fuel during WWI. It was not a new idea though. Benjamin Franklin was an early proponent of changing clocks to create more daylight hours in order to save on candle use. Time change use in the USA has changed often since 1918. The most recent change was in 2007 when the dates were changed to the current schedule of the second Sunday in March as the beginning of DST and the first Sunday in November as the beginning of Standard Time. One practical reason for this change was to extend DST past October 31 in order to provide more daylight for trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Currently, 48 states observe the time change with only Arizona and Hawaii not participating.
Many people dislike DST and don't understand the need for it. The primary argument against it is that the time change effects sleep patterns thus causing an increase in workplace accidents and a decrease in sleep and productivity. However, if we maintained Standard Time year round, the sun would set earlier during the spring and summer. Retailers say that business is better when the sun shines later into the night and since more people shop in the evenings than in the mornings, DST is good for commerce. That's part of the reason why Congress expanded DST in 2007. Since people generally do most of their free-time activities after work and not before, it makes sense to have more daylight in the evening. This begs the question, "why not keep DST year round?". Well, just ask farmers. The primary defenders of Standard Time are farmers and others who must rise early. There is only so much daylight to go around and nobody enjoys having to get up when it's dark, which is what DST does: it pushes the earlier hours into deeper darkness in exchange for more light after work.
One thing is certain. Moving our clocks in either direction changes the principal time cue - light - for setting and resetting our 24-hour natural cycle. In doing so, our internal clock becomes out of sync with our current day/night schedule. It can be especially challenging for young children who's sleep patterns are disturbed by the time change. A tip for helping children to adapt to the time change is to begin adjusting their schedules by about ten minutes at a time each night over the week prior to the time change. Changing the clocks is also a good reminder to check your smoke detectors and to replace the batteries in them.
So, remember to "fall back" on November 6 and enjoy that extra hour of sleep!
Courtesy Huntsville AL Real Estate Broker Mike Manosky.