On March 12, millions of people around the world set their clocks forward by an hour in observance of Daylight Savings Time. On Nov. 5, they will set them back an hour. Why?

A common misconception about DST is that farmers created it, when in fact it is quite the opposite as they were one of its biggest opponents. DST was first proposed by George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand scientist who liked to study bugs, in 1895. He came up with the idea because he wanted two extra hours to hunt for bugs, but his proposal failed.

It wasn’t until World War I when the Germans first tried the time change to save energy and preserve coal, according to the website Time and Date. DST was first introduced in the United States in 1918 to support wartime efforts, but it didn’t become official until 1942.

The reasons for starting DST may have made sense at that time, but do they really make enough sense to keep it around today?

One of the biggest reasons we still have DST is that it saves energy, but some people say that it wastes energy. The original thought was that DST would save money because people would be outside and use natural sunlight, but as technology improves and people want to spend more time on computers or in air-conditioned areas, this becomes less true.

In a video by CGP Grey, he calculated that in the United States, DST will either save only $4 per household or cost $4 per household. Four dollars is not a lot of money on either side, in the grander scheme of things, but as technology improves and people want to spend less time outside during the summer, DST may end up costing the United States far more.

Another factor why the United States still uses DST is that it is economically beneficial. Most companies say that with extra daylight in the evenings, people feel more compelled to shop and spend money. This may seem natural for outdoor businesses such as golf courses, but it is also true for other businesses as people tend to be out and about rather than cooped up at home.

Crime also plays a big role in the argument for keeping Daylight Savings Time. In a study conducted by researchers Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders, they found that crime during the commuting hours of 5 to 8 a.m drops by 7 percent. This drop in crime can be attributed to the extra hour of ambient light, which may give victims and passersby the chance to see potential threats. The extra daylight also lowers the number of kidnappings, as kids aren’t waiting at the bus stop in the dark.

Although this may seem like a great benefit, there may be far worse consequences. D.T. Max, writing in “National Geographic,” states that heart attacks go up 25 percent, car accidents go up 17 percent, and workplace accidents go up by 7 percent all on the Monday after the spring time change.

Studies have shown that DST causes the average American to lose forty hours of sleep after that Monday and some studies even say that our circadian clock never adjusts to the time change.

Although it seems that the cons of Daylight Savings Time outweigh the pros, we still participate in it. Forty-eight U.S. states (all but Arizona and Hawaii), participate in Daylight Saving Time, and 70 out of 169 countries in the world have some form of DST.

The average American doesn’t know why DST was created or the effects it has on our lives, and most put it in the category of “one of those thing we just do” and will continue to do. But if people were more educated about it, would they want to make a change?