Daylight saving time is set to make its annual appearance this weekend, but time will not be springing forward for all Canadians.
While the majority of Canadians will be setting their clocks an hour ahead before going to bed Saturday night on March 9, nothing will change for residents of the Yukon and most of Saskatchewan. There are a few small pockets in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec that have also shunned the annual time change.
For the rest of the country, however, daylight saving time (DST) will begin at 2 a.m. on March 10.
Each Canadian municipality can decide if it will implement DST, which is why some small areas in B.C., Ontario and Quebec run on a different time schedule than the majority of their provinces. In B.C., for instance, Chetwynd, Creston, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, and Fort St. John have all opted to stay on Standard Time.
Yukon opted to stay on UTC-7 as the new standard time year-round as of Nov. 1, 2020.
While an extra hour of daylight undeniably has some advantages, some experts believe it has a negative impact on sleep patterns and overall health.
University of Bradford senior lecturer Gisela Helfer says there is an uptick in the number of heart attacks, strokes and workplace injuries during the first weeks after a time change as well as a 6 percent increase in fatal car crashes.
The more common symptoms that affect most people are irritability, less sleep, daytime fatigue, and decreased immune function, said Ms. Helfer, who specializes in physiology and metabolism.
Tips to Adjust More Quickly to DST
While the effects of time change on the body can’t be eradicated completely, they can be minimized, Ms. Helfer said. She suggests:- Having a regular sleeping pattern year-round. “It’s particularly important to keep the time you wake up in the morning regular,” she said. “This is because the body releases cortisol in the morning to make you more alert. Throughout the day you will become increasingly tired as cortisol levels decrease and this will limit the time change’s impact on your sleep.”
- Gradually transitioning to the time change by adjusting your sleep schedule slowly over the course of a week. Changing your bedtime by 10 to 15 minutes each day helps your body to adjust more easily to the new schedule.
- Getting outside in the morning. “Morning light helps your body adjust quicker and synchronizes your body clock faster,” she said. “Morning light will also increase your mood and alertness during the day and helps you sleep better at night.”
- Avoiding bright light in the evening both natural and from the blue light that comes from cellphones and tablets. Blue light in particular can delay the release of sleep hormones and wreak havoc with the body’s internal clock.
The twice-a-year clock changes were implemented to take advantage of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere by gaining an extra hour of daylight in the evening during the spring and summer months. It also adds an extra hour of daylight to fall and winter mornings.
Canada first observed DST in 1908 when residents of Port Arthur, Ont., now known as Thunder Bay, turned their clocks ahead. Other locations in Canada soon followed suit.
All locations in Canada using DST started to follow the same start and end dates as the United States in 2007.
