Saved time

Daylight Saving Time (DST)—often colloquially called “saved time” or “daylight savings”—is the practice of advancing clocks forward by one hour during the warmer months so that darkness falls at a later clock time. This system shifts an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening to better align with human waking hours. How the Shift Works

The annual cycle relies on a simple, well-known mnemonic device:

Spring Forward: Clocks move ahead one hour on the second Sunday in March at 2:00 a.m., resulting in a temporarily “lost” hour of sleep.

Fall Back: Clocks return to Standard Time by moving back one hour on the first Sunday in November at 2:00 a.m., granting an extra hour of sleep. History and Origins

Early Proposals: Benjamin Franklin whimsically suggested shifting sleep schedules to save on candle wax in 1784. In 1895, New Zealand scientist George Hudson proposed a two-hour shift to give him more evening daylight to collect insects.

First Adoption: The municipality of Thunder Bay, Ontario, became the first local jurisdiction to adopt DST in 1908.

Global Spread: Germany and Austria-Hungary implemented it nationally in 1916 during World War I to conserve coal fuel. The United States and much of Europe adopted it shortly after. The Modern Debate

Fewer than 40% of countries globally observe DST today. The system is increasingly controversial due to distinct trade-offs between public health and economic activity: 7 Things to Know About Daylight Saving Time | Johns Hopkins