Top 10 Facts About Daylight Savings Time

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Most people on know of Daylight Savings Time as when we change the clock forward in the spring and back in the fall. However, you don’t have to be one of them. Check out the top 10 facts about Daylight Savings Time and learn a little bit more about this bizarre ritual.

10. Daylight Savings Time Was First Proposed by a Bug

The first serious case of someone proposing the adoption of Daylight Savings Time came from a bug collector. During the summer, he got frustrated that the sun set so early, making it difficult to collect bugs. He reasoned that by setting the time forward by a hour, he would have more daylight hours in order to collect bug specimens. His proposition included setting back the clock back by an hour in the winter months when bugs wouldn’t be out as much.

The entomologist first brought up DST to the scientific society of New Zealand in 1895.^[1]mental floss – 10 Fascinating Facts About Daylight Saving Time However, they quickly shot down his idea for being overly complicated and pointless. Ironically, only 20 years later, Daylight Savings Time was adopted by many countries around the developed world.

9. Not Everyone Celebrates Daylight Savings Time

A lot of countries around the world do not follow DST. Only around 70 countries actually follow it. In fact, several places in the United States don’t even observe Daylight Savings Time. They include: Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and American Somoa. Many countries around the equator do not follow DST as well. This is mainly due to the fact that there is not such a big difference between the seasons in these regions. In addition, two additional big countries that don’t observe DST include China and Japan.^[2]CNN – Daylight Saving Time Fast Facts

8. The BBQ and Candy Industries Love Daylight Savings Time

The BBQ and Candy industries love Daylight Savings Time because the extra hours of sun mean more money for them. For example, in 2007, the US started pushing back DST in the fall. This meant that more kids would be out trick-or-treating during Halloween, resulting in more candy sales. In addition, in 1986, the US extended Daylight Savings Time by one month. In this time, the BBQ industry saw an increase of $100 million in sales of charcoal briquettes and grills.^[3]From the Grapevine – 8 odd facts about daylight saving time

7. Daylight Savings Time Is Bad For Your Health

You might not think that losing an extra hour of sleep is that bad for you. However, by changing your body’s internal clock, you are actually increasing the risk for things such as fertility rate, miscarriages, strokes, heart attacks, sleep disorders, fatigue, decreased productivity, and cluster headaches. In fact, according to a study in 2013 in the journal Open Heart, there is a 25% increase in heart attacks on the day after the spring Daylight Savings Time change.^[4]Big Think – Daylight saving time 2018: 7 myths and facts about changing the clock

6. You’re Less Likely to Get Robbed During DST

According to research done by the Brookings Institute in 2015, you are actually less likely to get robbed during Daylight Savings Time. In fact, they found that the likely hood of you getting robbed dropped by 7% during the fall Daylight Savings Time and 27% during the spring Daylight Savings Time.^[5]Brookings – Fighting crime with Daylight Saving Time

5. WWI Helped Make Daylight Savings Time Official

During WWI, Germany became the first country to officially adopt Daylight Savings Time. They did this in order to help conserve coal for the war effort. The other European nations in the fight, quickly followed. The United States didn’t follow suit until 1918.^[6]date and time – History of Daylight Saving Time in Europe The US did this in order to save electricity. However, most of the countries that adopted DST during the war quickly did away with it after the end of it.

4. Did Benjamin Franklin Found DST?

Many historical sources claim that Benjamin Franklin was the founder of Daylight Savings Time. However, this is not true. Rather, in a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, entitled “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light”, he suggested that the people of Paris could economize the usage of their candles by getting up earlier in the morning.^[7]date and time – History of Daylight Saving Time (DST) In fact, he never even suggested changing the hour on the clock. In addition, he wrote this letter as a joke!

3. Daylight Savings Time Is an Ancient Idea

The modern idea of Daylight Saving Time is relatively new in a historical context. However, humans have actually been practicing DST concepts for thousands of years. For example, during the time of the Romans, they used different types of water clocks for different months in order to adjust their daily time to the solar time.^[8]time and date – What Is Local Mean Time?

2. DST Tricked Terrorists

Many people get confused by Daylight Savings Time. For example, in September 1999, terrorists in the West Bank forgot to switch their clocks back from DST. This caused their bombs to blow up a hour too early, accidently killing themselves and not their intended victims.^[9]Baker, Debbi. “Five Ways Daylight Saving Time changed More than the Clock.” The San Diego Union Tribune. March 7, 2015. Accessed: August 25, 2017.

1. Why Do We Switch the Time at 2 A.M.?

You may wonder why do we choose to switch over to DST at 2 AM? No one is awake at that time. However, that is actually exactly the point. 2 AM is the time when the fewest trains are running, overnight shift workers haven’t left work yet, and most bars have already closed.^[10]Prerau, David. Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentions Story of Daylight Saving Time. New York, NY: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2005. Therefore, by switching the time over at 2 AM, you are actually causing the least amount of disruption.