Don’t forget, clocks went back an hour 2 a.m. Sunday.
TORONTO — The end of daylight saving time may be welcome news to most Canadians looking for an extra hour of shut-eye, but experts warn that the additional hour of sleep gained when the clocks fall back could herald some long nights ahead for the country’s insomniacs.
Most Canadians will enjoy an extra hour of rest on Sunday when they allow their clocks to fall back one hour.
But Colleen Carney, director of the sleep and depression lab at Ryerson University in Toronto, said insomnia sufferers may find their already problematic sleep patterns are crippled even further by having an extra hour in which to toss and turn.
“When you spend more time in bed, it’s like telling your body, ‘oh, you don’t need more sleep, you need less sleep because you’re less active,’” Carney said.
“People with insomnia will be excited by it, but the reality is that they get absolutely no benefit from this at all.”
A night of extra sleeplessness is exactly what the average insomniac doesn’t need at a time of year that’s already rife with pitfalls, Carney said.
The earlier sunsets that accompany the shift to standard time can have a powerful effect on even those who enjoy eight hours of sleep each day, she said, adding longer periods in darkness are well-documented downers for large swaths of the population.
Those who are prone to insomnia, she argued, are even more susceptible to the low moods and other seasonal disorders that surface during the winter months. Those disorders can exacerbate their inability to sleep, touching off a frustrating cycle, she added.
Carney suggests insomniacs take a slightly different approach to the shift to standard time than their less sleep-deprived peers, only moving their clocks back after waking up at their regular time on Sunday morning rather than adjusting their Saturday bedtime.
“There’ll be a little bit of sleep drive built up, and they won’t get that extra hour in bed,” she said.
“They actually will be a little bit more primed for sleep.”