"Fall Back" Sunday

Next Sunday we will "fall back" to Standard time, add an extra hour of slumber for most and lose the advantage of a bit more light during winter afternoons.

Daylight Saving Time, which has been a part of American life since the days of Benjamin Franklin, had its latest modifications as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In 1987, the "spring forward" was changed from the last Sunday in April to the first, and it is now in early March.

It was extended to ten months of the year during the Energy Crisis in the mid-1970s. A 1975 United States Department of Transportation poll suggested people found it useful to take advantage of extra daylight in the evenings, and some believed it helped with energy efficiency. A year later in 1976, the National Bureau of Standards found that even though we enjoy daylight a bit longer in the late afternoon, there was no indication of significant energy savings.

At 2 a.m. Sunday morning, November 7, 2021, set your clocks back one hour. Of course, turning your clock back one hour at bedtime works just as well. Then enjoy the extra-hour snooze in the morning, or a longer shower, or even a glance at your Dayton Chronicle over another cup of joe before going to church.

–Charlotte Baker