Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday, November 4

ow that we have been lulled into the idea that we lose an hour's sleep with the commencement of Daylight Saving Time in March, now we get a sense of glee over the prospect of getting that hour back on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 2:00am. The exceptions to this are, of course, Arizona and Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, who don't observe daylight saving time. Indiana adopted DST in 2006.

So get ready to move those clocks back an hour on Saturday night when you go to bed!

Here are some facts you may not have known about Daylight Saving Time!

1. Officially, it's "daylight saving time," not "daylight savings time." But don't feel bad if you thought there was a final "s" on "saving"; far more people Google the incorrect phrase than the correct one.

2. Daylight saving time has mixed effects on people's health. Transitions into and out of DST can disturb people's sleeping patterns, for example, and make them more restless at night. Night owls tend to be more bothered by the time changes than people who like mornings, Finnish researchers concluded in 2008.

3. There's a spike in heart attacks during the first week of daylight saving time, according to another study published in 2008. The loss of an hour's sleep may make people more susceptible to an attack, some experts say. When daylight saving time ends in the fall, heart attacks briefly become less frequent than usual.

4. People are safer drivers during daylight hours, and researchers have found that DST reduces lethal car crashes and pedestrian strikes. In fact, a study concluded that observing DST year-round would annually prevent about 195 deaths of motor vehicleoccupants and about 171 pedestrian fatalities.

5. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed into law by President George W. Bush, extended the length of daylight saving time by four weeks. It now begins at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March. It ends on the first Sunday in November.

6. Also in 2005, Kazakhstan abolished daylight saving time, citing negative health effects. The country's government reportedly calculated that 51.6 percent of Kazakhs responded badly to the time change.

7. Most of the world does not take part in this practice. Much of South America, Asia and Australia do not participate in Daylight Saving Time anymore, while a large part of Africa never recognized it.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with the genesis of the idea. According to National Geographic Franklin wrote about how many resources we could save if people spent more time working in the daylight hours.

Remember to check your smoke alarms as well. Most make a practice of checking smoke alarms at the beginning of DST in March, and again in the fall when it ends.