Community Corner

Spring Forward! Daylight Saving Time is Sunday

Start Saturday night by moving your clock an hour ahead, before you go to sleep. It's battery-changing time, too.

Some of us have been waiting for this day. Sunday is the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. It's time to "spring forward" by setting our clocks an hour ahead at 2 a.m. so we'll have an hour more of daytime.

Santa Clara County Fire Department officials use this opportunity remind residents to change their smoke detector and emergency flashlight batteries, and to update their emergency supplies.

For those who have been thinking about emergency preparedness in the wake of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, it's also a good time to sign up for AlertSCC.  This is an emergency alert system for anyone who lives or works in Santa Clara County to get emergency warnings sent directly to their cell phone, mobile device, e-mail or landline. 

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According to TimeAndDate.com, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a way of getting more light out of the day by advancing clocks by one hour. "During DST, the sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning, when people are usually asleep anyway, and sets one hour later in the evening, seeming to stretch the day longer."

With the loss of one hour’s sleep on Sunday, here are some tips to stay on track this weekend and every day, courtesy of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Begin to adjust your sleep schedule a few days before the time change. Go to bed earlier each night.
  • Eat dinner or perform other routines an hour earlier.
  •  Be careful when driving or operating machinery on the day of the time change.
  •  Avoid napping before bedtime.
  •  Keep a light schedule on the Monday after the time change.
  •  Eat properly, drink plenty of water and get some exercise.

A couple of parting thoughts: Is it Daylight Saving Time or Daylight Savings Time? The correct answer (according to crowd-sourced Wikipedia), is the former,  in the same manner you might talk about a labor-saving device.

Good luck to anyone who has to work on Sunday morning!


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