Daylight Saving Time arrives on Sunday, clocks ‘spring forward’ an hour

Ready, or not, it’s time to “spring forward” this weekend, which means you lose an hour of that precious sleep, but the good news – spring is around the corner.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins at 2 a.m. ET on Sunday, as clocks move ahead one hour, bringing with it longer daylight hours in the spring and summer months. The sun will rise later but set later too.

Most of Canada is on DST — only parts of Saskatchewan and areas in British Columbia remain on Standard Time year-round. Yukon made DST permanent in 2020.

The time change has always been controversial with dedicated defenders and ardent adversaries.

In Ontario, the province passed a bill in 2020 to permanently remain on DST but it came with a caveat — both Quebec and New York State would also have to make the move for the change to come into effect.

There was an Alberta referendum in 2021 where just over half of people voted to continue changing clocks twice a year.

Those in favour of a permanent move to DST say it will lead to fewer car crashes, less energy use and improved health. Those against say the mornings would just be too dark during the months of December and January.

In the U.S., a study of traffic fatalities found fatal car crashes temporarily spiked in the days after the spring time change. Studies have also found an increase in heart attacks and strokes.

“This time change seems to affect people for a much longer period of time,” says Michael Antle, a University of Calgary psychology professor who studies the circadian clock.

The circadian clock is in people’s brains and Antle says it follows daylight, especially tracking dawn. It’s what makes everyone wake up just before their alarm clocks go off, he says.

But daylight time forces people to get up an hour earlier than their body is ready, Antle says. They won’t feel full rest until that new wake-up time matches with dawn. That can take weeks, he says.

There’s an idea that the extra hour in the evening benefits health by getting people outside, Antle says. But some studies have shown that it only amounts to about six additional minutes of exercise, he says.

Sleep experts say there are ways to prepare for the time change, including going to bed a little earlier on Friday and Saturday nights, moving up activities in the daily routine, and trying to soak in more of that morning light.

Canadians can thank an avid Ontario golfer in Thunder Bay for introducing daylight time to the country, Antle says. In 1908 the towns of Port Arthur and Fort William – now Thunder Bay – brought in seasonal time-shifting for July and August. John Hewitson, a local businessman, wanted more time in the sun, and probably on the greens.

It expanded across much of the country a decade later, Antle says, and was embraced as a way to save energy during the First and Second World War.

It’s a misconception that it happened because of farmers, the professor adds.

“They always get blamed for this,” Antle says, adding farmers are getting up to milk the cows no matter what numbers are on the clock.

“The farmers, they just do what the sun does.”

If there is one upside to Sunday’s time change – the arrival of spring at 11:06 p.m. ET on March 19.

Also, make note of this in your calendar: Clocks “fall back” on Nov. 3, which means an end to DST and gaining back that extra hour of sleep.

With files from CityNews staff , The Canadian Press and The Associated Press