Fall Back Tonight

At 2 a.m. Sunday, daylight saving time comes to an end — at least until the second Sunday in March — meaning that the clocks must be reset and we get back the hour we lost in March.

For most of us, the extra hour comes and goes because we are in bed at 2 a.m., sleeping, and other than noticing more sunlight in the morning and perhaps feeling a little more refreshed, we hardly even notice it. Smart clocks, now, know when to change on their own.

But every year, partly because stupid clocks still need to be changed, news outlets remind everyone to "fall back." And the debate begins: How did this tradition start? Is it good for us? And if it is not, should we always be an hour ahead or an hour behind?

⏰What is daylight saving time?

Daylight saving time, or some people say daylight savings time, is the term we use to distinguish between the part of the year starting in March when we advance clocks — or they now advance themselves — an hour ahead. Ironically, when this happens there's less daylight in the morning.

When we set clocks back an hour, it's called standard time.

To help schoolchildren remember what to do with clocks when they learn the mnemonic device: "spring forward" and "fall back." Get it?

Benjamin Franklin, the statesman and inventor whose picture appears on the $100 bill, is credited with the idea to conserve candles back in 1784. Others offered other proposals over the years, and in 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, the twice-year time change became law.

Despite the commonly held belief that daylight saving time was to help farmers, it was created to save energy, and according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, when the sun sets later, it's presumed that people will stay out longer and spend more time outside leading to a need for less electricity usage for lights and appliances.

While the Uniform Time Act of 1966 promoted a uniform system of time across the country, it did allow states to choose whether they wanted to participate.

Hawaii and most of Arizona — except the Navajo Nation — remain on standard time throughout the year, meaning they don’t change their clocks like the rest of country. It means that for much of the year, the time difference between New York and Phoenix is three hours — but from November to March, Phoenix residents are just two hours behind.

Other U.S. territories including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also remain on standard time year-round.

Studies over the last 25 years have shown the one-hour change disrupts body rhythms tuned to Earth’s rotation, adding fuel to the debate over whether having Daylight Saving Time in any form is a good idea.

The issue is that for every argument there is a counterargument. There are studies, for example, that show we have more car accidents when people lose an extra hour of sleep. There are also studies that show robberies decline when there is an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day. We also know that people suffer more heart attacks at the start of Daylight Saving Time. But what about our mental health? People seem to be happier when there is an extra hour of daylight.

According to livesceience.com, Benjamin Franklin, the brainchild of DST, proposed the idea in 1784 as a way to conserve energy, said David Prerau, author of  "Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time". Ideally, people would spend time outside, enjoying the extra hour of daylight, rather than sit inside, wasting energy on lighting, Franklin reasoned.

However, it's hard to say whether daylight saving translates into energy savings, according to several studies, including a 2007 Department of Energy study and a 1997 study on a residential home in Kansas, Live Science previously reported.

Even so, Franklin's idea spread in the 20th century. In 1908, a city in Ontario, Canada, became the first modern region to officially implement DST, according to Time and Date. The Germans began following DST in May 1916, with the goal of conserving fuel during World War I. The rest of Europe followed suit soon after, and the United States officially adopted daylight saving time in 1918.