It's time to Fall Back - Daylight Savings Time

It's that time of year again. Time to back and get an extra hour of sleep this Sunday, November 1, 2009.

Most, but not all of the United States will fall back one hour this Sunday at 2:00 AM. The states and US terriorties that do not participate in Daylight Savings Time are Hawaii, most of Arizona, and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands-will do nothing. Up until 2006, Indiana also did not participate.

So what is Daylight Savings and why do we do it? Well, when Benjamin Franlin created Daylight Savings, it was to make more productive use of the daylight hours. The US Congress noted in 1986 that there are additional benefits such as with longer day light hours, children are able to play outside more, thus hopefully having more healthy children.

Energy savings was also a reason why Daylight savings came about, but experts are now debating if energy is really saved because when the hours are darker longer in the morning, more electricity is used in having lights on.

If you live in a location that participates in Daylight Savings, enjoy your extra hour of sleep Sunday!