Alright ladies and gents, break out the champagne bottles because this weekend is the weekend that you get an extra hour of sweet, sweet R and R. On Sunday, November 4, 2018 at 2:00 a.m. daylight saving time ends.

Spring forward, fall behind, we all know the saying but where did it come from? How did it become a thing? So curious! So I’ve delved into the deepest, darkest corners of the internet to find the answer to this question.

First of all, what exactly is Daylight Savings time or “DST”? It’s a seasonal time change when clocks are set back an hour or forward an hour because seasonal changes bring earlier or later sunrises and sunsets. created in order to conserve day light during the waking hours.

Did you know that DST is not observed in every part of the world!? Neither did I! Here’s the breakdown, most of North America and Europe and some of the Middle East practise DST, while most of Africa and Asia have chosen to abstain from this practise. Most countries in Northern South America, as well as Paraguay and Brazil, have joined the band wagon as well as New Zealand and parts of Southeastern Australia, how bizarre!

DST was invented by New Zealand scientist George Vernon Hudson and a British builder William Willett but we’ve tweaked it a bit since then. In 1895 George Hudson presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a 2-hour shift forward in October and a 2-hour shift back in March. In 1905, independently from Hudson, a British builder named William Willett proposed to move the clocks forward by 20 minutes every Sunday in April and set them back 20 minutes every Sunday in September. Can you imagine?! That would be so confusing.

The worlds first DST started on July 1, 1908 in a little town called Port Arthur, Ontario, now known as Thunder Bay. Closely followed by the entire countries of Germany and Austria in 1916. On April 23, 1914 Regina, Saskatchewan followed suit followed by Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba on April 23, 1914.

Today DST is used in over 70 countries all over the world affecting 1 billion people every year. The beginning and end dates vary from country to country. How’s that for a conversation starter?