Before you go to bed Saturday night, don’t forget to set your clock one hour ahead in observance of Daylight Savings Time.
This means we will lose one hour of sleep, but will reap the benefits of more daylight in the evenings, which according to timeanddate.com, was one of the reasons to establish DST.
According to the website, US inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin first proposed DST in 1784, but it wasn’t implemented until 1895. Since then, it’s had a storied history – with some states opting out all together.
The website defines DST as the “practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months, and back again the in the fall.”
One of the advantages of DST is the adoption of daylight during the hours when more people use the roads, which could lead to fewer accidents, the website states. More daylight hours also means less time spent driving in the dark for those that work after 5 or 6 p.m.
DST also reduces the amount of artificial lighting needed during the evening hours.
Here in Pearl River County, more sun during evening hours means more time to play sports such as baseball, softball and football. It also means that summer is right around the corner for school children, who will be participating in county youth sponsored sports.
This is also a great time to spend more time outdoors exercising, working in the garden or swimming in the family’s pool, since the temperatures are also rising.
So, don’t forget to spring forward this weekend. And now is a good time to begin making your plans for those extra daylight hours.