Do you wonder where Daylight Savings Time had originated? The idea came from Benjamin Franklin and is where the saying, "Early to bed, early to rise" came from. In 1784 he wrote an essay to say that people should be more productive during the daylight than that of light from a candle. That in all there would be less candles burned and today that would mean less energy used. That is over 231 years ago and we are still moving our clocks ahead in the spring and moving them back in the fall. The old saying, "spring forward, fall back" is a useful tool in remembering which way we are turning our clocks.
There are several reasons behind daylight savings time. Here are just a few of the beliefs and reasons behind daylight savings time:
One reason came from a very early belief that we could get more done during daylight in the summer days. The decrease of Melatonin in our bodies when the sun came up would allow us to have more energy during the daylight hours. It was also scientifically studied and found that we used 1% less energy during daylight savings time.
It was also studied and found that 10% less vehicular crashes during daylight savings time along with less pedestrian accidents because the daylight helped drivers visually see them. There are also economic advantages to daylight savings time and some say that it gives longer daylight hours to shop, attend sporting venues. There are mixed emotions when it comes to health benefits where your body would get more Vitamin D by being in the sun but adversely you would possibly increase your chances of skin cancer. Another adverse fact was that during daylight savings time there were 10% more risk in having a heart attack and that it also disrupts sleep patterns.
The fact is that when we move our clocks forward an hour in the spring, we have more daylight in the evening to get outside during the spring and summer in Minnesota. When we move our clocks back on November 1st we then have more daylight in the morning during the fall and winter months.
There is much controversy over Daylight Savings Time but there are some countries that want to keep the clocks forward throughout the year. In the United States there is a petition to keep Daylight Savings Time as we do for the summer all year long with reasons behind their petition that it messes up kid's sleep schedules and everyone's circadian rhythm with sleeping. For now anyway, we will all be turning our clocks back by an hour on November 1st at 2:00 a.m. Happy Fall y'all!
