Spring ahead: Daylight saving time begins 2 a.m. Sunday

 

Surprisingly or not, there is a rich body of historical trivia and academic research associated with daylight saving time — yes, that’s saving, not savings. Here is some interesting reading on the subject:

• Daylight saving time is not observed in Arizona, Hawaii or U.S. territories such as the Midway Islands and Wake Island. [Washington Post]

• The history of daylight saving time, which was conceived by Ben Franklin and still is the subject of controversy today, is more tangled than most people probably realize. [MSNBC]

• The “abrupt” change in schedule raises the risk of having a heart attack by 10 percent for people who get up to work on Monday morning, according to a University of Alabama study. [Daily Mail]

• A University of Michigan economics professor last year estimated jumping ahead an hour costs America $1.7 billion in lost productivity. [Huffington Post]

• Jumping ahead an hour could be a drain on your bank account because it corresponds to an increase in seasonal utility use, according to a 2008 study from academics at Yale and the University of California, Santa Barbara. [Christian Science Monitor]

• Researchers in Canada have found that that loss of an hour of weekend sleep increases the chance of getting into a car accident on Monday by 17 percent. [Wheels.ca]

• The decreasing number of clocks that need to be manually changed is minimizing the inconvenience daylight saving time creates. [Washington Post]

• How some of Chicago‘s best-known clocks make the switch. [Chicago Tribune]

• Still confused? Here’s a video that should clear everything else up

 

Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/