Quebecers and most residents of other Canadian provinces will gain an hour of sleep this weekend, in the night from Saturday to Sunday. A sign that winter is fast approaching, they will however lose an hour of daylight in the evening, until the arrival of spring.
Regions that follow this North American standard move forward one hour on the second Sunday in March and back one hour on the first Sunday in November, to revert to Eastern “standard” time. At 2 a.m. on Sunday, it will therefore only be 1 a.m.
The time will be reversed automatically on telephones, computers and other “smart” devices, but will have to be done manually on Saturday evening on clocks, alarm clocks and ovens, in particular. As every year, it is also recommended that residents take advantage of this time to change the batteries in their smoke detector.
The time change, always a debate
But with the onset of cold weather, the debate resurfaces… While some Canadian provinces, including Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, have already considered abolishing the time change, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and some regions of British Columbia have already taken the plunge. Prime Minister François Legault had also considered giving up the practice no later than 2020.
The question then comes up again this year: is this the last time that we will turn back the clock in Quebec? For the moment, there is no indication that the ritual will be abolished.
Elsewhere in the world, there are nearly 70 countries that adhere to the time change, including the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand and most of the countries of Europe, where the decline of the hour took place on the night of October 29 to October 30.
What are the impacts on sleep and health?
Beyond our electronic devices, our body and mind can also be affected by the upcoming time change. However, the reverse of the needle in November has less impact on sleep and health than the change of time in the spring, since we gain an hour of sleep, explains Nadia Gosselin, professor in the Department of Psychology at University of Montreal and Scientific Director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Sleep Medicine at the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
On the other hand, for people who are more sensitive to changes in the sleep schedule – people with insomnia, for example – we will see an increase in sleep problems, she points out. These disturbances can last up to a week after the time change.
But in general, the decline of the hour will mainly have an impact on mood, since there is less light during the day and the temperature gets colder, explains the professor.
And our biological clock?
“The main synchronizer of our circadian clock is light. Being exposed to light, especially in the morning, allows us to have more energy during the day, but also to have better sleep, because there is a greater contrast between day and night. “, explains M.me Gosselin. In this sense, from a scientific and biological point of view, turning the clock back in November is more beneficial for the organism, according to her.
“If we kept summer time, that means we wouldn’t have light before 8 a.m. and in some cities, it would even go until 9 a.m., she continues. It is therefore better for the body to keep winter time to have access to light in the morning. »
Why do we change the time?
The ritual, first appearing in Germany in 1916, was introduced to Canada years later to increase production during the First World War. Canada’s federal daylight saving time law was then dropped at the end of the war, but later reinstated during World War II.
From 1988 to 2006, Canada followed the American model, where the time was advanced on the first Sunday in April and reversed on the first Sunday in October. In 2005, in order to save energy, former US President George W. Bush decided to extend daylight saving time in the United States from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. For practical and economic reasons, Canadian provinces and territories followed suit in 2007.
The next time change will take place on the night of Saturday March 11 to Sunday, thus switching to summer time. The hour of sleep lost will be compensated by an hour of light regained.