History of Daylight Saving Time

During late winter, we move our clocks one hour ahead and "lose" an hour during the night, while each fall we move our clocks back one hour and "gain" an extra hour. But Daylight Saving Time (not Daylight Savings Time with an "s") wasn't just created to confuse our schedules.

The phrase "spring forward, fall back" helps people remember how Daylight Saving Time affects their clocks. At 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March, we set our clocks forward one hour ahead of Standard Time ("spring forward," even though spring doesn't begin until late March). We "fall back" at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November by setting our clock back one hour, returning to Standard Time.

The change to Daylight Saving Time ostensibly allows us to use less energy in lighting our homes by taking advantage of the longer and later daylight hours. During the eight-month period of Daylight Saving Time, the names of time in each of the time zones in the U.S. change as well. Eastern Standard Time (EST) becomes Eastern Daylight Time, Central Standard Time (CST) becomes Central Daylight Time (CDT), Mountain Standard Time (MST) becomes Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), Pacific Standard Time becomes Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), and so forth.

More