Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the United States ends on the first Sunday of November. This year, clocks across the country will be moved back one hour, from 2 am to 1 am, on Sunday, November 6.

“The first Daylight Saving Time policy began in Germany on May 1, 1916…”, according to the article, The Real Reason Why Daylight Saving Is a Thing by Olivia B. Waxman. Since then, the idea of DST started to spread across the world from county to country.

DST is now practiced by about 70 countries around the world according to Daylight Saving Time. The main purpose of DST is to make better use of daylight. Different countries have different change dates of when DST occurs.

In the US, DST was first introduced in 1918, and it was called Fast Time back then. Over the years there have been many confusion and changes of the DST in the US. From 1987 to 2006 DST was observed by the country for about seven months each year. After observing the policy for those years, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was introduced and has been followed since 2007.

There are mixed emotions about the bi-annual changing of the clocks, and voters in California have spoken out against it in 2018. According to the California Proposition 7 (2018), “California Proposition 7, the Legislative Power to Change Daylight Saving Time Measure, was on the ballot in California as a legislatively referred state statute on November 6, 2018. The measure was approved.” 59.75% of the population voted yes, allowing the California State Legislature to change the dates and times of the Daylight Saving Time period, but the legislature has not responded to the request yet.

In the late fall and throughout the winter, when the days are shorter, it makes sense to have the sun in the sky as long in the afternoon as possible, but that will turn around again in the spring when people move their clocks forward again on Sunday, March 12. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep this month!