Top Ten Crazy Facts About Daylight Saving Time

ONE

It’s a myth that America was the first country to practice Daylight Saving Time.

It is believed to have begun in Britain, but Germany was actually the first country to have recorded observing DST in May 1916. (They did it to save fuel for factories during World War I.)

 

 

TWO

Daylight Saving Time does not, in fact, save energy.

Researchers concluded in 2007 that while DST does save on energy for lighting, it also increases the use of electricity for heating and cooling.

 

 

THREE

Not every state in the USA observes Daylight Saving Time.

People who live in Hawaii and Arizona never change their clocks. A couple of states have thought about putting the practice aside (namely, Massachusetts and Maine — sadly, Virginia doesn’t seem to be considering it), but they haven’t bitten the bullet yet.

 

 

FOUR

It is not true that America started observing Daylight Saving Time for the sake of farmers’ workdays.

We’ve all heard it: more daylight meant more time to work the fields. It’s a myth! Farmers actually fought against the practice of DST, because it meant less time for milking cows or taking crops to market. (Railroad workers were against it, too; they worried that the time change would lead to confusion and cause deadly crashes.)

 

 

FIVE

The United States repealed Daylight Saving Time.

“Repeal the law and have the clocks proclaim God’s time and tell the truth!” proclaimed a Mississippi congressman after the end of World War I. After two presidential vetoes, DST was finally killed by a two-thirds vote in Congress, overriding President Wilson’s refusal. Obviously, though, it came back. (Lyndon Johnson reinstated it in 1966.)

 

 

SIX

During the time the US as a country did not observe Daylight Saving Time, New York City kept it up anyway.

As an international financial hub, New York City declined to go along with the repeal of DST. Other big cities followed suit, and things got so mixed up across the land that Time magazine dubbed the system the “chaos of clocks.”

 

 

SEVEN

Daylight Saving Time can have an impact on your health.

Messing with your internal clock can have consequences, like sleep disorders, decreased productivity, headaches, fatigue, strokes, heart attacks, problems with fertility, and even miscarriages. One study found that on the day after a spring DST, there was a 25% jump in the number of heart attacks!

 

 

EIGHT

You are less likely to be robbed during Daylight Saving Time.

According to research, your likelihood of getting robbed goes down by about 7% during the fall DST and 27% during the spring one.

 

 

NINE

Daylight Saving Time doesn’t begin at the stroke of midnight.

It starts at 2 a.m., so that most people won’t be awake to notice it — even those who work early shifts or have jobs in bars and restaurants.

 

 

TEN

The fall Daylight Saving Time is in November because of candy industry lobbyists.

Until relatively recently, the fall DST ended on the last Sunday in October, which meant it encroached on Halloween night. The industry lobbied Congress for decades, until a law was finally passed in 2007 to extend DST into November.