Daylight Saving Time (DST)—often colloquially referred to as “saved time”—is the seasonal practice of setting clocks forward by one hour in the spring and back one hour in the autumn. This system shifts an hour of daylight from the early morning to the evening to better align human activity with natural sunlight during the warmer months. How the Clock Shifts Work
Spring Forward: Clocks advance by one hour on the second Sunday of March in the U.S.. This creates a 23-hour transition day and causes people to lose an hour of sleep.
Fall Back: Clocks return to Standard Time by moving back one hour on the first Sunday of November. This creates a 25-hour transition day, granting an extra hour of sleep. History and Adoption
Early Concepts: Benjamin Franklin playfully suggested waking up earlier to save on candlelight in 1784. Later, scientist George Hudson proposed a clock shift in 1895 to have more evening daylight for collecting insects.
War-Time Implementation: Germany and Austria first officially implemented DST in 1916 during World War I to conserve fuel and electricity. The United States adopted it shortly after in 1918.
Global Use: Roughly 40% of countries worldwide use DST today. It is most common in North America and Europe. Notable Exceptions Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX – Standard Time .
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