Published On: 11.03.17 | 

By: Michael Sznajderman

Turning back time: Farewell Daylight Saving

Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday at 2 a.m., giving us an extra hour to sleep and ushering in several months of early sunsets. (GettyImages)

Cher once considered (in a hit song) what it would be like “If I could turn back time.”

Alabamians and most of America get to do that every year, and it’s happening again this weekend.

So, here’s your reminder to “turn back time” and set those clocks back one hour on Saturday night before you hit the sack.

Every state in the union except Arizona and Hawaii will switch from Daylight Saving Time (DST) to Standard Time at 2 a.m. Sunday. So will most of Canada and some areas of northern Mexico, although a good portion of our south-of-the-border neighbor already switched for the season last weekend, as did much of Europe.

Consider it an early holiday gift: an extra hour to sleep in Sunday morning – unless the sun coming up an hour earlier and peeking through the bedroom window disrupts your slumber.

On the other hand, the return to Standard Time also means it will be getting darker earlier – a sure sign winter is on its way.

DST has existed in some form or another in the United States and Europe since World War I, when both sides in the conflict were seeking ways to conserve fuel by extending daylight hours for a portion of the year.

A century later, there is conflicting evidence whether DST really saves energy. Indeed, some studies show it may increase energy usage, especially in warm climates where longer periods of sunlight now mean more people cranking the air conditioning later into the evening.

A 2008 U.S. Department of Energy study concluded that the extension of DST saved about 1.3 terawatt-hours of electricity, or about one-third of a tenth of a percent of total U.S. electricity consumption.

A scientist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has suggested a darker side to DST. He says it might lead to an increased risk of heart attacks in people with heart disease.

Whatever the case, live Cher’s dream and turn back that clock Saturday night. Whatever it might do to your biological clock, or your energy bill, you’ve got a whole extra hour coming your way to ponder the implications.