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Sunday marks the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, or DST, in all states that observe the practice. This means that 1:59 AM Sunday morning will give way to 3:00 AM, skipping an hour outright and moving the sunset to later in the day. Are you ready for the clocks to spring forward?
Thankfully, most internet-connected devices are easy enough to set for the time change. In fact, most of them don’t even need to be set. They simply work with a quick update from the internet, requiring no action on your part! In the past, the number of things that needed to be set forward for this occasion was somewhat obnoxious.
Now, instead, only a few things in your home will need to be manually set. If you have any analog clocks or watches, these will need to be moved forward. Unless you have smart appliances, clocks on your stove and microwave will need to be manually set as well. Some cars with older clocks will also need to be adjusted.
DST is observed in most US states, but it isn’t universally loved. So why, exactly, do we use it?
Its main purpose is to cause people to wake earlier in the warmer months, meaning that people will be more active during the brightest parts of the day. This causes the illusion that the sun stays up for “longer,” when in actuality, people are just waking up and going to sleep earlier.
DST’s origins come from the 19th Century, when an entomologist proposed the idea as a way to give himself more daylight after work to inspect bugs. No, seriously, that’s true.
Benjamin Franklin was another early proponent of the idea, as he was a nosy busybody who didn’t want people sleeping in late in the summer. Seriously.
Many people rightly loathe this occasion. It leads to reduced and interrupted sleep, increases the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes, and sees a dramatic rise in car accidents.
Additionally, older people tend to be affected more directly than younger people. They will often have a harder time with the sleep disruption, and this season already increases the need for medication for pain relief. Arthritis symptoms and similar ailments often flare up around DST’s date.
On the bright side, this shift in time is great for encouraging foot traffic. This helps local shops and is often a boon for local commerce.
