Kick back and enjoy an extra hour this weekend with the end of daylight-saving time early Sunday morning.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, time doesn’t just stop, it turns back one hour — or at least the nation’s clocks are supposed to be reset. This is meant to replace the hour of evening daylight we gained last spring, when clocks were set an hour ahead, moving one hour of daylight from the morning to the evening, resulting in the net loss of an hour.

Confused yet?

You’re not alone. According to an unofficial daylight-saving Web site, plenty of questions surround the semi-annual changing of the clocks. The practice could get even more confusing next year, when springing forward begins a month earlier than usual and falls back a month later — which in reality is just a few days later — than in previous years.

The idea of daylight-saving time was conceived by Benjamin Franklin, but wasn’t observed in the United States until 1918, and then only for seven months. After World War I ended, the law was repealed in 1919 by Congress because it was so unpopular.

The practice was reinstated year-round during World War II, from 1942 to 1945, and remained optional afterward. But by the 1960s, the inconsistent use of daylight-saving time was troublesome for airlines, railroads, television stations and other businesses that worked cross-continent.

Congress ended the confusion in 1966 by instituting daylight-saving time nationwide through the Uniform Time Act, which does allow states to opt out and has occasionally been revised.

The most recent changes mean that Daylight Saving Time will begin on March 11 in 2007, instead of the first Sunday in April, and will end on Nov. 4, 2007, instead of the last Sunday in October.

By the way, it’s daylight-saving — not savings — time. Adding the “s” apparently is a grammatical error, even though it sounds correct. The term “saving” is being used as a verbal adjective to modify “time,” meaning we are actually somehow saving time, which we’re not. Some suggest the term daylight shifting is more accurate, but wouldn’t everyone rather save than shift time?

Reports say daylight-saving time does save money, as well as energy. People enjoying long, sunlit summer evenings have less need to turn on the lights — in Helena, sunset doesn’t take place until around 10 p.m. A study by the Department of Transportation says energy use drops by about 1 percent during the summer months.

Some of that drop, however, is made up during the winter because even though it gets light earlier in the day, it also gets dark earlier in the day. And anyone with an infant who’s finally sleeping on a schedule, or those with sleep disorders, know the disruption an hour of change can cause. Studies also have shown an increase in the severity of auto accidents and decrease in work productivity while people are adjusting to time changes.

Those who are really bothered by switching clocks can move to Hawaii, Arizona or the Virgin Islands, where it’s not observed.

Another option is to move to Antarctica, which does observe the change but has no daylight in the winter and 24-hours of light in the summer.