After a long day at work, it is nice to be able to get some fresh air outside 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 in sight, how do you expect to enjoy these evening activities? Well, mark March 8 on your calendar, because you are about to gain an hour of daylight in the evening!

On Sunday, March 8, set your clocks forward by an hour it 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 do this 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. has 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 8, time will jump to 3 a.m.; this jump will give us more daylight to enjoy evening activities and helping save energy.

Try to continue those New Year’s resolutions with daylight saving and go for a walk or run in the evening, especially since the weather will eventually begin to warm up. On March 8, don’t forget to change your clocks so you don’t show up an hour late to your Sunday appointments. 

*The information in this article was compiled from a variety of sources and is intended to provide helpful tips only