After a long day at work, it is nice to be able to get some fresh air outdoors while exercising, playing outside with your kids and pets or maybe grilling your favorite dinner. But, when 6 p.m. hits and there is no sunlight insight, how do you expect to enjoy these evening activities? Well, mark March 14 on your calendar, because you are about to gain an hour of daylight in the evening!  

On Sunday, March 14, set your clocks forward by an hour if you’re in a participating location. This will make sunrise and sunlight occur an hour later than the day before, increasing the amount of daylight we have during the evening. We change clocks twice a year, but does anyone really know why?  

The U.S. is one of 70 countries to participate in Daylight Saving Time (DST). Starting in 1918, “fast time” was introduced and has been utilized since then. The true reason why DST was created was to create a way to save energy and to get more use out of our natural daylight. 

After the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was established, every state or territory in the U.S. had the choice to opt-in or opt-out of DST. The entire state of Indiana observes DST, but there are 80 counties in the Eastern Time zone and 12 counties in the Central Time zone. 

No matter which time zone you’re in, at 2 a.m. on March 14, time will jump to 3 a.m.; this jump will give us more daylight to enjoy evening activities and helping save energy.  

One of our community partners, The American Red Cross knows a thing or two about safety. They encourage everyone to not only “turn your clocks” on March 14, but to also test all of the smoke alarms throughout your home. 

Smoke alarms can help prevent major accidents. Making sure they are installed correctly and working properly can make a huge difference if a fire does occur. Here is more information that the American Red Cross shares about the importance of checking your smoke alarms.  

Try to continue those New Year’s resolutions with daylight savings and go for a walk or run in the evening, especially since the weather will eventually begin to warm up. On March 14, don’t forget to change your clocks so you don’t show up an hour late to your Sunday appointments.