Springing forward into daylight; daylight saving time begins Sunday morning

March 9, 2019 | 12:44 pm

Updated March 9, 2019 | 1:41 pm

Graphic by Owensboro Times

Once again, the tradition of clocks “springing forward” will happen early Sunday morning — at 2 a.m. — causing many to lose an hour of sleep in exchange for the longer daylight hours of spring.

While there are many stories behind the origination of the semi-annual change to and from daylight saving (not savings) time, the process itself is currently under consideration.

Many want to eliminate daylight saving time, but, according to The New York Times, the federal government controls the nation’s time zones as well as the start and end dates of daylight saving time.

According to the Washington Post, last week Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) reintroduced a bill to make daylight saving time a year-round reality across the country, eliminating biannual time changes, while Representative Vern Buchanan (R) introduced matching legislation in the House. According to the Post, these bills follow a vote in the Florida legislature last year to adopt daylight saving time year-round.

So, why the switch between daylight saving and standard time every six months? Several stories give credit to Ben Franklin for the idea, but according to Michael Downing, author of “Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time,” the first daylight saving time policy began in Germany in 1916 in the hopes that it would save energy during World War I. But, the idea may have come from British man William Willett, who wanted to have an “extra” hour of sunlight after a day of work.

According to Time magazine, the first U.S. law on daylight saving time went into effect on March 19, 1918, for the same fuel saving reasons about a year after the country entered the war. For 40 years, U.S. citizens argued on whether it was a good idea or not. One of the greatest opponents were farmers (though another myth says they are who started the idea) who said they were unable to complete the morning tasks on the farm because they had less morning daylight time.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, which said the United States would observe six months of daylight saving time and six months of standard time.

In anticipation of daylight saving time, Dr. Bobbi Jo Hopkins, director of the Sleep Center at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital recommends that children and teens put electronics away an hour before bedtime, as well simplify their morning routine by doing as much as possible for the morning the night before.

“Place shoes by the door, lay out clothes and breakfast, pack the backpack, etc.,” Hopkins said, adding to set a goal for the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep Sunday night.

March 9, 2019 | 12:44 pm

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