Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from Standard Time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, in order to make better use of natural daylight.
To remember which way to set your watch, keep in mind “spring forward, fall back”. You set your clock forward in the spring when DST starts (= lose one hour), and back one hour when DST ends in the fall (= regain one hour).
1. Was this all a joke?
American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” to the editor of The Journal of Paris in 1784. In the essay, he suggested, although jokingly, that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead. – Timeanddate.com
2. Is Daylight Saving Time bad for your health?
Transitions associated with the start and end of DST disturb sleep patterns, and make people restless at night, which results in sleepiness the next day, even during a "Fall back" period, since when we Fall Back, we might have trouble adjusting to going to sleep "later" after the time change.
This sleepiness leads to a loss of productivity and an increase in "cyberloafing" in which people muck around more on the computer instead of working. That finding was from a 2012 report in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
During the first week of DST (in the late winter) there's a spike in heart attacks, according to a study in the The American Journal of Cardiology (and other previous studies). That's because losing an hour of sleep increases stress and provides less time to recover overnight.
The opposite is true when we gain an extra hour of sleep. The end of daylight saving time causes a decrease in heart attacks.
Still, not all studies show the negative side of DST. A study published October 23, 2023 indicated that children in Europe and Australia got more physical activity during extended evening daylight hours. – Businessinsider.com
3. Daylight Saving, why 2am?
Why two o'clock? The thinking goes its late enough that most people would be at home, with few bars and restaurants being affected. In addition, it prevented the date from switching to yesterday; it would be confusing if, say, we changed the clocks at midnight back to 11 p.m. The time is also early enough that the clock-hand change occurs before early shift workers and early churchgoers might be impacted, according to the WebExhibits, an online museum. – Livescience.com
4. Daylight Savings Time or Daylight Saving Time?
Daylight Saving Time (DST) is often misspelled “Daylight Savings”, with an “s” at the end. Setting our clocks one hour forward in the spring, is often referred to as “Daylight Savings Time” even though “Daylight Saving Time” is the correct spelling.
“Daylight Savings Time” is very commonly used, especially in Australia, Canada and the United States. It's likely that the incorrect term “savings” entered is popular vocabulary because it's so often used in everyday contexts, like “savings account”. – Timeanddate.com
5. Daylight Saving Time in Antarctica.
Since most of its territory lies below the Antarctic Circle, Antarctica experiences 24 hour of sunlight during the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter.
This makes having Daylight Saving Time pointless for the continent. However, stations that synchronize their time zones with ones that follow DST, do set their clocks when the time zone they follow starts or ends DST. For example, McMurdo station follows New Zealand Standard Time, which is UTC+12, during the winter and then spring forward one hour in the summer to UTC+13 to follow DST changes in Christchurch. – Timeanddate.com