Daylight savings ‘jet-lag’
Time changes in spring and fall not good for our health: York professor
OTTAWA – It may be time to sound the alarm about changing our clocks twice a year.
After most Canadians have adjusted their clocks an hour back following the end of Daylight Saving Time Sunday, a York University professor is advocating for a switch to a consistent time year-round.
“Research with humans tells us that light in the morning is what we need to have to reset our (internal) clocks,” Patricia LakinThomas, an associate professor at York’s Department of Biology, said in a phone interview.
And if most provincial governments continue to keep the seasonal time changes or enact laws to lengthen the amount of light we are exposed to in the evening, Lakin-Thomas says it’s a bad idea for everyone.
“Research with humans tells us that light in the morning is what we need to have to reset our (internal) clocks,” Patricia LakinThomas, an associate professor at York’s Department of Biology, said in a phone interview.
“Research with humans tells us that light in the morning is what we need to have to reset our (internal) clocks.” Patricia Lakin-Thomas Associate professor at York’s Department of Biology
And if most provincial governments continue to keep the seasonal time changes or enact laws to lengthen the amount of light we are exposed to in the evening, Lakin-Thomas says it’s a bad idea for everyone.
“Light in the evening will set our clocks later, it will make our clocks longer, and it will make us want to stay up late but then get up late in the morning” LakinThomas said.
“And that’s actually going to make everything harder for us if we have light in the evening. It’s really the morning light we need.”
It’s a battle between people’s biological clocks and their social clocks – when the body wakes up versus when we need to set our alarm to prepare for work or school.
“It’s like being jet-lagged,” Lakin-Thomas said about the sleep deprivation.
Even though people may not feel much of an effect, LakinThomas said that when the time changes — especially in the spring when people lose an hour of sleep – research shows there is a spike in vehicle collisions, workplace injuries, heart attacks and strokes due to sleep deprivation.
She adds there’s also evidence judges give harsher sentences to criminals in the days following a time change.
Meanwhile, the government in British Columbia is going full steam ahead to eliminate the twice-a-year time changes after tabling legislation on Thursday to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, but not in time for this weekend’s changeover.
In Canada, most of Saskatchewan, some locations in Quebec and British Columbia, and a tiny pocket in Northern Ontario maintain Standard Time year-round.