![]() “We are relatively certain that it is the transition from daylight time to standard time that causes the increase in the number of depression diagnoses and not, for example, the change in the length of the day or bad weather,” said researcher Søren D. The data, obtained by analyzing 185,419 depression diagnoses in Denmark’s Central Psychiatric Research Register, found that depression cases spiked by as much as eight per cent in early November. A Danish-American research team published a study showing that the rate of diagnosed depression cases shows a marked uptick in the weeks after the “fall back” clock change. But the effect of daylight time is to take a slow darkening process and transform it into a violent one-day plunge. The cold and darkness of a Canadian winter is depressing in any case. As a news site that sees much of its traffic occurring during working hours, however, the National Post can’t necessarily condemn this behaviour. ![]() workers were inclined to spend an extra 8.4 minutes cyberloafing. By analyzing Google data and experimenting on sleep-deprived volunteers, researchers found that for every lost hour of sleep, U.S. It’s why a 2012 study out of Penn State found a daylight time increase in “cyberloafing” (screwing around with personal things on the internet instead of working) after people are forced to wake up an hour earlier for the “spring ahead” change to daylight time in March. Humans aren’t good with impulse control when they’re tired. Lights were indeed being turned on later - but heaters and air conditioners were also kept on longer. After analyzing the energy consumption habits of seven million households in Indiana, the bureau stoically concluded that despite its intended purpose, daylight time was actually wasting energy. National Bureau of Economic Research, by contrast, also released a study on daylight time in 2008. And the NRC is pretty charitable on this point. “There is general consensus that DST does contribute to an evening reduction in peak demand for electricity, though this may be offset by an increase in the morning,” read the report. Their conclusion was that we don’t really know. But no less than the National Research Council of Canada did a comprehensive review of the scientific literature in 2008 to find out if daylight time really was saving energy for Canadians. ![]() You might recognize this as the entire reason Canada jumped on the daylight time train in the first place. In this article, originally published in 2016, the National Post’s Tristin Hopper runs through just eight of the many reasons to hate daylight time.ĭaylight time is probably not saving any energy A hefty body of scientific research is backing up the theory that this whole clock-switching thing might be a literal waste of time. If government-mandated clock shifts annoy you, you’re not alone. Then, in November, we switch them back to “standard time.” In March, we skip our clocks ahead one hour to inject more sunlight into the evenings. “I remember the first time I experienced a daylight time change was when I was in Ontario for grad school and I was just like, ‘What is this? This is bananas.’”įirst introduced to Canada 100 years ago as a way to save coal, the project is now a ritual tolerated purely due to the belief that it’s good for us. “I’ve always thought that the daylight time changes that happen in the rest of Canada were a bit of a silly idea,” he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Sean Boots moved to Whitehorse with his wife in October 2019 and welcomed Yukon abandoning the time change, having grown up in Saskatchewan. In nearby Atlin, B.C., an unincorporated community where under 500 people live just south of the Yukon border, residents have decided to join the territory rather than change their clocks with the rest of the province. Yukon government officials said in 2021 that ending the clock change was a relatively smooth process. Most of Saskatchewan keeps the clocks the same year-round and Yukon gave up on the biannual clock change in 2020. Rubio said in a statement that the “ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” and that ending the practice has bipartisan support. ![]() Senator Marco Rubio reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would allow daylight time to be made permanent. bill to authorize the change that has been repeatedly thwarted is back in play. Provinces have been promising for years to ditch daylight time but have cited a need for consistency with U.S.
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