The final 6 p.m. sunset of the year will be witnessed in New York City this Friday night, a sure sign of the fast-approaching yield from daylight saving time to standard time which brings shorter days and protracted evenings. The change has been happening gradually over the entire month. Concurrently, sunrises have also been occurring later each day. On November 3rd, we will be bidding adieu to daylight saving time and transitioning back to standard time.
Daylight saving time in the United States commenced its course in 2019 on March 10. Although several attempts have been made in Congress to make this time adjustment a permanent fixture in our calendars, no such legislative measure has been successful so far. Consequently, throughout the nation, timepieces will be adjusted backward by one hour in the coming month.
According to the stipulated federal law, daylight saving time inaugurates each year on the second Sunday of March and concludes on the first Sunday of November in the majority of U.S. states. This year, the switch back to standard time will occur on November 3rd, when clocks will be set back by an hour at 2 a.m.
Looking ahead to 2025, daylight saving time will be reinstated on March 9, with our clocks once again set to ‘spring forward.’ The concept of daylight saving time revolves around adjusting the clocks typically as the spring season commences and again when fall begins, often encapsulated by the aphorisms, ‘spring forward’ and ‘fall back.’
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 dictates the start and end of daylight saving time as the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, respectively. On these days, the public adjusts their clocks forward or backward by an hour. Prior to this amendment, clocks would spring forward on the first Sunday of April and remain so until the concluding Sunday of October.
However, the shift was partly introduced to enable children to go trick-or-treating in the extended daylight. Throughout the United States, daylight saving time persists for a span of 34 weeks; from the earlier parts of March to the outset of November in the states where it is observed.
While Benjamin Franklin is often inaccurately credited with the inception of daylight saving time due to his 1784 essay on candle conservation and health benefits of rising early, his suggestions were intended more in a satirical context. It was Germany that first incorporated daylight saving time into its national schedule on May 1, 1916, during World War I, a move aimed at fuel conservation. The rest of Europe soon followed suit.
The United States adopted daylight saving time much later, on March 19, 1918. Despite its good intentions, it was met with widespread discontent and subsequently abolished post World War I. It was not until the passage of the Uniform Time Act in 1966 that daylight saving time was standardized in the United States, regulating time within the country’s established time zones.
The Uniform Time Act required clocks to be moved forward by an hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in April and turned back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October. During the oil embargo of 1973, Congress instituted a trial period of year-round daylight saving time from January 1974 to April 1975 to cut back on energy consumption.
Nearly all states in America observe daylight saving time, with Arizona and Hawaii being the primary exceptions. Moreover, U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not acknowledge daylight saving time.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) posits that our body’s internal clock uses the cycle of natural light and dark as a primary timing cue to synchronize. Receiving light in the morning and darkness at night aligns our bodies more harmoniously with nature, improving our ability to wake up for daily activities and facilitating sleep at night. However, daylight saving time tends to disrupt this rhythm, leading to sleep loss and poor sleep quality, which has further detriment on our health.
Over the years, the AASM has persistently championed the cause for a permanent transition to standard time, alluding to extensive evidence of the adverse, immediate implications of seasonal time transitions. They further caution that the proposals for making daylight saving time a permanent custom overlook potential health risks that can be mitigated by permanently embracing standard time instead.
Final 6 p.m. Sunset of the Year Marks Approach of Daylight Saving Time appeared first on Real News Now.
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