End daylight saving time? “Tear off the band-aid,” the researcher urges

Sleep researchers in Britain are calling for the abolition of daylight saving time due to the impact it has on the human body.

A statement published Wednesday in the Journal of Sleep Research said evidence reviewed showed that the March change, which sees the clocks jump forward an hour, “may negatively impact sleep regulation.”

Prof. Malcolm von Schantz, one of the researchers at the British Sleep Society, said getting rid of the time change and keeping Britain on British Standard Time – when the clocks go back an hour – would bring benefits.

“What’s really important is to avoid switching to daylight saving time (DST) all year round, because that can really have an impact on both physical health, but also mental health. For example, it would likely worsen the incidence of winter depression,” he said.

He added that people would see an improvement in sleep and circadian rhythms – defined by the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences as the physical, mental and behavioral changes an organism experiences over a 24-hour period.

The push to end daylight saving time and establish a fixed time year-round is not new.

In fact, this has been seen in several countries, including Canada, with the province of Quebec just announcing on Tuesday that consultations will begin on whether to end the time change.

Michael Antle, a professor of psychology at the University of Calgary, told Global News that the time change was created in part to allow more time in the evenings.

“The idea was to give us a little more free time in the evenings when we have very long days in the summer,” he said.

He said it was also used to save energy during wartime in the early 20th century. By shifting work schedules, employers would not have to turn on the light bulbs until employees are almost done with their shifts.

This is no longer necessary with the various energy-saving light bulbs, and now that there is less need for an extra hour in the evening, Antle says that more studies show the negative consequences.

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“You’ve caused your body clock, your circadian clock, to get out of sync with the day-night cycle and your work schedule, and you’re forcing people to get up and go to bed, go to work and go to school to go. an hour earlier than they are used to.”

Time has already stood still in some provinces and territories, with Saskatchewan keeping its clocks on central standard time year-round, while the Yukon changed to its own standard time in 2020.

Alberta held a referendum in 2021 on whether to make a change, although it was rejected. A spokesperson for Service Alberta told Global News it would not be reviewing the issue at this time, but would monitor the impact as other jurisdictions make their own decisions.

Manitoba said it would also monitor developments but evaluate the “best possible options.”

Others have passed legislation to make a change and make daylight saving time permanent, including British Columbia and Ontario, although they rely on neighboring jurisdictions, including the US, to also make changes before actually moving forward.

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How to prepare for daylight saving time

Roger Godbout, a clinical psychologist at the sleep laboratory at Montreal’s Riviere-des-Prairies Mental Health Hospital, told Global News that people lose almost an hour of sleep during daylight saving time. He said this is because he is exposed to light later in the day, which creates a stimulating effect that makes it harder to fall asleep at night.

He said it would be more beneficial for health and sleep to make the clock reset period permanent, giving us more light in the morning.

“The morning light is the most important for our balance, both mentally and physically,” says Godbout.

Studies have shown negative consequences of the annual switch, including cardiovascular problems.

A 2019 report published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine analyzed seven studies with more than 100,000 participants. This showed that there was an increased risk of heart attack in the weeks after the summer time changes in spring and autumn.

A 2016 nationwide survey in Finland – published in the journal Sleep Medicine – showed that hospital admissions due to stroke increased during the first two days after the switch.

The statement from British researchers also said that since most of the country is in the same time zone, the country sees later sunrises and later sunsets all year round, further supporting keeping time on British Standard Time , which will require consultation with Ireland to establish a time zone border with Northern Ireland, which is part of Great Britain

Canada could prove more difficult due to its many time zones.

In the case of Ontario, for example, the province told Global News that making changes without Quebec or New York “would be disruptive to commerce, stock markets and broadcasting.”

But Rebecca Robillard, co-chair of the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium, says provinces should simply switch to standard time rather than wait for economic or similar reasons.

1:22
Can Daylight Saving Time Be Made Permanent?

“It’s really a no-brainer in terms of what we want to put forward first,” she said. “A little bit of administrative complication between certain provinces and discrepancies ripple across the country towards people who made the change and voted and listened to the public’s preferences and, most importantly, the scientific evidence that chose to protect their health protect.”

She hopes Quebec’s move can also set a precedent for other provinces to take their own steps instead of waiting.

Jason Ellis, professor of sleep science at Northumbria University and colleague of von Schantz, said now is the time to take action.

“We don’t have that much land mass in Britain so we’re basically dealing with one change, so from my perspective you obviously have to rip the Band-Aid off,” he said.

— with files from Saba Aziz and Uday Rana of Global News

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