When Does Daylight Saving Time Start? Lose An Hour Of Sleep, But Enjoy A Little More Daylight
When does Daylight Saving Time start in 2015? If you are worried about losing an hour of sleep due to the upcoming time change, there’s an upside to setting your clocks an hour ahead — longer daylight hours. For those who are fed up with the snow this winter, the beginning of DST also means Spring is right around the corner.
In most areas of the United States, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on March 8. ABC affiliate WGNO reports that sunrise and sunset will occur approximately one hour later on Sunday, giving those in states that observe DST a little extra light in the evening.
Daylight Saving Time hasn’t always started on the second Sunday in March. In 1986, clocks were turned an hour ahead on the first Sunday in April at 2 a.m. and turned back an hour on the last Sunday in October. According to Web Exhibits, Congress decided to change the dates in 2007, making the start date of Daylight Saving Time the second Sunday in March, and ending it on the first Sunday in November.
Quick Tip: Set a Reminder for Daylight Saving Time in Google Now – http://t.co/GdZY9u8aLk #android pic.twitter.com/Bf5CiR6Kl2
— Droid Life (@droid_life) February 20, 2015
Not every state or territory in the United States observes DST. Time and Date reports that residents of Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands will not be turning their clocks an hour ahead on March 8. According to a previous report from the Washington Post, lawmakers in Utah have proposed legislation that would put an end to Daylight Saving Time in their state. A survey given to some residents of Utah revealed that 62 percent of those who took the poll want the time change to stop.
There has been plenty of debate about the usefulness of Daylight Saving Time, with many wondering if it saves anything at all. The change from April to March was part of an effort to try to save energy, but it appears the savings are not significant. In his book Spring Forward, Michael Downing writes that turning the clocks ahead one hour in March “will not reduce our electricity use even by one half of 1 percent.”
In addition to Downing’s claim that Daylight Saving Time doesn’t save a significant amount of energy, the New England Journal of Medicine writes that there is an increase in heart attacks within the three days that follow the time change in March. That sounds like a good reason to do away with it completely.
[Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
