A psychology professor who has been studying Daylight Saving Time for 20 years believes it’s a bad idea to adopt it year-round.
Dr. Mike Antle of the University of Calgary says the spring forward change is not good for our bodies.
“It creates a bit of a mismatch between what our body wants to do and what our boss and teachers want us to do,” Antle tells our newsroom. “We have to show up to work an hour earlier on Daylight Saving Time.”
Antle says it takes about three weeks for most of us to adjust to the springtime change.
“So it’s not just losing an hour of sleep on that Monday morning,” Antle explains. “It’s actually getting up an hour earlier every day for three weeks relative to what your body wants to do.”
Although we’d gain daylight in the late afternoon, Antle says early winter sunrises would be 9 a.m. or later which means going to work and school in the dark.
Antle is pushing for year-round Standard Time but Ontario and B-C are considering year-round Daylight Saving Time if neighbouring American states do the same.
Atlantic Canada’s premiers say they’re also keeping a close eye on what happens south of the border.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it all depends on the move made by the U.S.
“No firm timeline from us, other than we recognize that what happens here certainly will be influenced by what happens in other jurisdictions,” Houston says. “We’ll wait for that to happen first.”
