By Lena LaJoy 

University of Maryland students woke up more rested Sunday morning after the end of daylight saving time, which set the time back one hour, providing students with an extra hour of sleep. 

Daylight saving time is the yearly event where clocks are turned forward one hour to provide extra daylight for outdoor activities in the summer, according to Time and Date. On March 9, daylight saving time started as the warmer months approached. 

At midnight Sunday, Nov. 2, daylight saving time came to an end, with clocks moving back one hour. This now results in the days becoming shorter as the sun sets earlier, according to Time and Date. 

Daylight saving time first started in Canada in 1908. The idea was popularized in 1916 after Germany switched its clocks ahead an hour in an attempt to save power during World War I. The U.S. and other European countries followed suit, according to Britannica.

In the U.S., daylight saving time was not officially recognized the same way in each state until 1966, when former President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law changing the dates, according to Country Living.

According to Time and Date, daylight saving time can start in early April and end in early November.

Caitlin Kim, a sophomore government and politics major, said she was confused when she woke up this Sunday. She said she awoke earlier in the morning than she usually would due to the time change.

“I felt surprisingly well rested for the time that it was,” Kim said. “I think I woke up at 7 a.m. and it felt like 8 a.m., so it was a bit odd.” 

Kim said the hour change negatively impacted her sleep schedule. She said when she goes to bed at her usual time, 11:00 p.m., she is more tired due to the time change.

Nera Weinstein, a freshman education major, said she was actually awake when the time change occurred. She said she did not see exactly when the clock changed, but she was confused about why it seemed so early.

“I was in my friend’s dorm and we didn’t see it happen, but then we remembered seeing the time and we were like ‘Why is it not that late right now?’” Weinstein said. 

Weinstein said the time change has made her less tired due to the extra hour of sleep. She also said she has woken up earlier since the change due to the sun rising earlier.

Tabitha Harmer, a sophomore cellular biology and molecular genetics major, said she dislikes the end of daylight saving time because the sun sets earlier. Harmer said she doesn’t like walking home after leaving her lab late at night when it’s pitch black. 

“I don’t like it,” Harmer said. “[My lab] ends at 6:20 p.m. and walking back from it in the dark—it just makes everything feel really late and tired.”

Currently, there are debates about continuing daylight saving time. In fact, Arizona and Hawaii already made the change, and they use a yearly standard time instead, according to Deseret News. However, there is no official government initiative to end daylight saving time.

Kim said she hopes the current daylight saving time schedule remains the same. She said she appreciated the correlation she had made with the seasons related to the time change. 

“I feel like it transitions us from different seasons, from fall to summer, it makes it feel more fall and then in the summer, with the sun going down later, it does feel a bit brighter,” Kim said.

Featured Image: A sunset occurs earlier in the evening due to the daylight saving time shift that began early this month. Photo by Monique James.