Daylight Saving Time: Clocks ‘Spring Forward’ One Hour Tonight

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse with the extended winter weather that good old Time Change weekend comes along. If only we could save ourselves from the seasonal allergies.

It’s time to spring ahead!

The official name for the reason you “spring ahead” and turn your clock forward is Daylight Saving Time, but a great number of people call it Daylight Savings Time, or simply Daylight Savings. And that means more sunlight after work but it could also put a lot of stress on your body.

Downing said a Boston-area businessman, Lincoln Filene may have been the driving force for the first enactment of Daylight Saving Time.

Michigan State Senator Mike Shirkey (R-Clark Lake) has introduced a bill in Lansing to take Michigan off of Daylight Saving Time.

The U.S. Department of Energy reported a study in 2008 stating that daylight saving time only reduces annual energy use by about 0.03 percent. Daylight Saving Time starts in Ontario on the second Sunday in March. Arizona and Hawaii also do not observe daylight saving time.

However, not everyone agrees it offers energy saving benefits.

The rules governing time changes were last amended in 2007, the result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. But states could exempt themselves if they chose.

But the time change is costing lives too.

Beyond just cutting sleep and making you groggy at work for a few days, daylight saving is a great opportunity to check smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, auto batteries or schedule a bi-annual tooth cleaning. No one there wants an extra hour of 100-plus-degree temperatures during the summer.

Daylight Saving Time is not observed in all 50 states.

Benjamin Franklin did not invent Daylight Saving Time.

Michigan’s Licensing and Regulatory Affairs agency sent out a Friday afternoon news release suggesting Michiganders change the batteries of any smoke and carbon detectors whenever they set their clocks back and forth every six months.