Trick Or Treat?! Forget About Extra Candy This Year- Mainers Are Getting An Extra Hour This Halloween

For many of us who are parents or grandparents, the marathon that is Halloween night leaves us wiped out!

Between the decorating and the costumes and the parties and the candy and the trick-or-treating, it's a lot. And while stuffing your face with the temporary sugar surge a handful of fun-size kit-kats and snickers bars provides, that high fades fast and exhaustion sets in before it's time to even brush our teeth!

This year, Halloween falls on a Saturday, so everyone is making the most of that, hosting events that last just a little bit later, because a majority of folks won't have work or school the next day.

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But to even things out a little, this year we also get another bonus...while the kiddos are busy getting heaps of treats, there's a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for grownups, too, and it's not from a glow-stick or flashlight.

It's in the form of time. An 'extra' hour, to be exact. Because this year, Daylight Saving Time "Fall Back" happens to take place in the wee hours following the hectic Halloween holiday. That's right, Mainer's get to turn their clocks back, on full hour, at 2 AM Sunday November 1st.

Aside from giving us all a little extra time to recover from the evening's festivities, Daylight Saving Time, in theory, was designed to help us enjoy a little more sunlight as the days get shorter.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology,  the practice of moving the clocks forward and back was first implemented back in 1918.

"Daylight saving time, or DST, is the period of the year when clocks are moved one hour ahead. In the United States, this has the effect of creating more sunlit hours in the evening during months when the weather is the warmest. We advance our clocks ahead one hour at the beginning of DST, and move them back one hour ("spring forward, fall back") when we return to standard time (ST). The transition from ST to DST has the effect of moving one hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. The transition from DST to ST effectively moves one hour of daylight from the evening to the morning."

In the interest of reducing energy usage, that period of time was extended a bit, for the first time in almost 90 years, when it was moved a bit earlier in the spring and later in the fall, in 2007.

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While most modern clocks (like smart watches and cell phones) will usually automatically adjust. Clocks on radios, microwaves, and in cars typically require some sort of manual reset.

Things to keep in mind, animals and kids don't have a reset option, so your dog will still need to go out, and your kids will likely still get up at the same time. But at least, in your mind, you'll have had that extra hour...even if it's only in your mind.

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So as you head to bed after your marathon trick-or-treat session, or that banging grown up Halloween party, do yourself a favor and set those clocks a little early. It will save you the confusion the next morning, and the potential of missing out on your Sunday games and activities.