Daylight Saving Time – A Historical and Practical Guide

March 9 is daylight saving time! If you’re like Monica Siguenza, a designer at ProPoint Graphics, the thought of losing an hour of sleep leads you to wonder why we go through the disruption each year. “I was always confused by the change and I came to find that I wasn’t the only one,” she says. “It’s something that we are very familiar with since we do it every year, yet we don’t quite fully understand why.”

One reason for daylight saving time is to conserve energy, but there isn’t much information or many hard facts on how much energy we really save. The monetary impact remains ambiguous as well. What we do know is that when spring rolls around people have extra time to exercise, which can be relaxing after a long day at work. A small shift in time can affect our behavior and lifestyles, even though the amount of hours remains the same. It’s the difference between being on the couch and being outdoors.

Here are 12 facts about daylight saving time (one for every hour) that will help you get ready for the big “spring forward” and learn the history behind changing our clocks.