hi I'm Craig up until now I thought it
was daylight savings time not daylight
saving time and this is Mental Floss on
YouTube today I'm gonna answer Jerome's
big question why does daylight saving
time vary by country still sounds weird
let's get started
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country started using daylight savings
time or DST or just during World War one
to clarify any time I say DST in this
video I'm referring to setting the
clocks ahead in the summer time so the
Sun is out longer during the evening
hours then returning to what's known as
standard time during the autumn Germany
was the first country to do this they
implemented it in order to save energy
the British adopted it shortly after
then most of the other countries in the
war did too in the US observing DST was
a federal law for both of the world wars
but after World War two it became a
decision of the States currently the
majority of countries in North America
and Europe observe daylight saving time
most countries in Asia and Africa don't
only about 70 countries or one quarter
of the world's population observe it but
a lot of countries have flip-flopped on
DST over the years and probably will
continue to this is for a couple reasons
some people believe that it saves energy
some say that it's bad for health and
some think it's just an inconvenience
there's no clear consensus on whether
daylight saving time actually saves
energy in 2008 the National Bureau of
Economic Research or nabber found that
even though people used less light
during DST they used their
air-conditioning more so there was
actually an increase in energy oh geez
the US Department of Energy on the other
hand claims that point oh two percent
less energy is used annually thanks to
DST experts also don't agree on whether
it's a health issue come on experts
can't we all get along can we do some
research your experts find out if we can
some studies show that our body's never
adjusted DST and it increases the risk
of illness others say that an extra hour
of sunlight encourages people to be
healthy and exercise more that said I
can't go through and tell you why each
country does or doesn't observe DST
because my own daylight is limited and I
have to save it but I can give you some
examples in 2011 Russia declared that it
would stay in DST year-round but people
hated it because of the dark winters so
they switched to Standard Time some
predominantly Muslim countries like
Morocco don't use DST during Ramadan
because people fast during daylight so
they prefer the Sun Goes Down earlier
others just avoid DST altogether in the
US two states regularly don't observe
DST Arizona and Hawaii Arizona because
they're a bunch of jerks Hawaii because
they're an island off in the middle of
nowhere in does matter no Arizona you're
probably great you haven't observed it
since the 60s officials believe that
they're saving energy by not having an
extra hour of sunlight time that people
would likely spend running their air
conditioning and a whyis Latitude makes
it so that DST wouldn't affect them that
much they get basically the same amount
of daylight no matter what season and
their weather is perfect all year round
if you bend oh ye it's amazing thanks
for watching Mental Floss on YouTube
made with
of all of these nice daylight savers if
you have a big question of your own that
you like answered leave it below in the
comments see you next week
you