Ralph Mistlberger’s light is adjustable, allowing him to have the full spectrum of options depending on what his internal clock needs.
“You want cool in the morning. You want warm in the evening or warm in the afternoon,” he said.
“And so, it goes from being more bluish in the morning to more reddish in the evenings. Both of those are important because artificial light affects your clock.”
Mistlberger knows real sunlight is better than a lamp, but after more than 40 years as a neuroscientist studying sleep and the body’s circadian rhythms, he’s preparing for what’s to come Nov. 1.
That’s when clocks would normally have turned back an hour for most of Western Canada. But they’re staying where they are, putting residents on permanent daylight time.
Mistlberger said it’s a mistake and he and other researchers from British Columbia have released an analysis warning of the potential risks to health, the economy and students’ well-being with the darker mornings on the way.
The analysis by economic, mental health and sleep experts was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and examined multiple studies and concluded that health evidence favours moving to permanent standard time — not daylight saving — in part because it better aligns with the body’s rhythm.
Mistlberger, a psychology professor at Simon Fraser University, said people may think they want more sun in the evening, but the impact of starting your winter day in the dark is far-reaching.
“You’re actually waking up at an earlier circadian phase. Your clock may still be telling your brain and your body that this is the sleep period. It’s not time to wake up yet,” he said.
“The same is going to happen in the evening. It’s going to be telling you this is still the wake period, it’s not time to go to bed yet.”
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He said not being able to get consistent sleep can lead to what scientists call “social jet lag,” when someone’s life and social calendar doesn’t line up with their biological clock.
Small amounts of sleep deprivation can be reversed with a good, long snooze, he said, but if the issue becomes chronic it can lead to health concerns.
That can include more cases of metabolic disorders, like obesity and diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease.
He said epidemiological studies of large populations have found increases in cancer and some mood disorders.
B.C., Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba all announced this year that they would adopt permanent year-round daylight time.
The B.C. government pitched that the move would “improve people’s overall health, reduce disruptions for families, simplify scheduling and provide an extra hour of evening light during the winter months.”
It said more than 223,000 people participated in a 2019 online survey and 93 per cent preferred a change to year-round daylight time.
Both Mistlberger and Patrick Baylis, a co-author of the analysis, said the government survey didn’t give the public the option to choose permanent standard time.
“The survey gave two options, which were comparing a switching regime, which is what we have previously had, to permanent daylight time. But those are the only two options,” Baylis said.
Baylis, an associate professor at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, said one of the biggest concerns is what it will mean for students going to school in the dark.
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A study of students around the time zone boundary in Florida showed an extra hour of sunlight before school was associated with higher math and reading scores among adolescents.
The analysis said it was “comparable in magnitude to meaningful class-size reductions and largest at puberty when circadian rhythms are most sensitive.”
“At minimum we should be thinking about monitoring for some of these negative effects on schooling outcomes, particularly among adolescents,” Baylis said in an interview.
While there is limited economic research, Baylis said some studies suggest exposure to sunlight can affect productivity.
A study that looked at variation in sunset timing within U.S. time zones found that an hour of later sunset reduces earnings over the long run by about five per cent.
Some countries that tried to make the switch to permanent daylight saving have not fared well.
Russia made the move in 2011 but reversed it three years later.
“Public dissatisfaction grew rapidly, particularly in northern regions, where winter morning darkness was even more prolonged, with critics citing disrupted biological rhythms, morning travel risks and effects on daily functioning,” the study said.
Most of Chile’s decision to change in 2015 was also reversed “after complaints about reduced school attendance, scheduling disruption and agricultural effects,” it said.
In 1974, all of the United States adopted permanent daylight saving as an energy-conservation measure.
“The policy was abandoned within the year after widespread opposition to dark winter mornings, concerns about children travelling to school before sunrise, workplace safety concerns and limited evidence of meaningful energy savings,” the analysis said.
The study recommends that choosing to stay with permanent daylight time should include steps to reduce the potential health effects and to evaluate the change.
Baylis said that could mean more flexible or later school start times or helping schools supplement the lack of real light in the morning.
Mistlberger said educating people on the potential impact is important, using bright lights in morning with adjustable bulbs to dim them by the evening.
“You want to get as much light exposure as you can as early as possible in the day when you go outside. So, even though the sunrise is going to be later than usual, it’s going to help you to get outside as soon as there is some sunrise.”
From North to South the amount of daylight differs everyday for everybody. All these humans adjust to their universe decided clock. A hour one way or the other isn’t going to destroy us or even be noticed. Personally I like the idea of stopping the bi-yearly changes. And remember the experts thought the world was going to end due to Y2K.
So why not leave switching the way it is? So it takes a week or 2 to adjust. Dark mornings are definitely going to be hazardous for commuting and school children.
Manitoba should have adopted standard time. It’s sad that out of the 72 thousand people that voted, out of 1.5 million chose to have more daylight in the summer just to play baseball. I guess in the winter, these people and our premier don’t care that people and children will be going to work and school in the dark. People are pron to not like getting up early in the winter, so can just imagine them waking up and driving in the dark in the morning, with adverse driving conditions accidents waiting to happen. Good luck.
I lived in Ohio most of my life. We changed the clocks there. Now I live in Arizona. We don’t change our clocks But our time does get split between pacific and mountain time for the rest of the country. I have never noticed any difference with either falling back, spring forward, or not doing either one. You get into a rhythm after living in one place and adapt. I feel this whole debate is ridiculous.
Just leave time the same and change the hours that school starts 🤦♂️
Hmmm, it is interesting that Saskatchewan has been on standard time since 1966. It will be interest to see if the other three provinces choose to change to standard time in a couple years. In the dead of winter it is go to work in the dark, come home in the dark. Time will tell. I personally prefer the light at night, but I am also not an early riser! Ontario. Hold your horses until this experiment plays out.
The standard time is the only one that should be allowed. Enough of these idiots playing around with what is normal to do. Daylight savings time never should have been allowed to begin with. STANDARD TIME!!!!
Finally, more light I’m the evening:
It will be nice to come home after work and have real daylight to look at in November, December and January!
Children will be able to play outdoors longer after school instead of being indoors ALL the time for months.
For not fir. Bloody sausage fingers. 😁
Hey “Summer is fir winners”: Guess you will be able to enjoy that sunlight through the window of the hospital room that your kid is in because they got run over while waiting in the dark fir that school bus.
During COVID, governments of all stripes were saying “listen to the experts” whilst promoting the various draconian rules to keep us “safe.” Now the experts are telling us that we need to revert to standard time for our health. The government’s response is to ignore them. Interesting is it not.
The so called pros who are against year round daylight time for health or other reasons should have a close look at Saskatchewan. It has been on Central Standard Time for decades BUT the province lies completely in the Mountain Time Zone which puts it on Mountain Daylight Time all year round. There doesn’t appear to be any moves for them to make changes.
The time change has never posed a problem for me personally, and I don’t put much stock in the claims that is detrimental to one’s health and that accidents spike in the days following the change. I do recall with some amusement the few individuals that showed up for work an hour late after the ‘Spring’ forward, and those who arrived an hour early after the ‘Fall’ back.
Why no option for standard time year round?
Forced dst.
F..k the govt.
DST should start the first Sunday in Spring and end the last Sunday of Summer, only 6 months, not the 8 months that we have now.
Changing clocks twice a year started in 1908, it is long overdue to stop that. It is more disruptive to one’s body to change the time twice a year than leave it the same year round.
I’m grateful to be keeping daylight savings time year-round! It’s so depressing in the winter time getting off work at 4:30pm and the sun has already set
Expert Anals is more like it
I want to be on permanent standard time, but the ballot didn’t offer that option. Human civilization has made great progress in understanding how the earth moves around the sun and how the circadian rhythm works with sunlight. Yet our government made a decision that disregards science and the collective effort of human civilization to come up with standard times.
I’d like to enjoy some daylight in the evening when I get home from work. I don’t give a damn about driving to work in the dark in the morning. Nor do I care that my kid has to wait for the bus in the dark (google “street lights” to find out why). PERMANENT DAYLIGHT TIME NOW!!!
I’d prefer staying on standard time all year but the question this govt put on the ballot a few years ago did not offer that option. That shows they wanted DST only all along.
Was tried in the UK when I was a kid and it didn’t work for the children going to school. It will be interesting next spring how many people will be complaining
For what’s it worth to the conservation.
First and Second Sleep: In pre-industrial times, people did not sleep straight through the night. They practiced “biphasic sleep,” going to bed at dusk, waking up near midnight for an hour of quiet prayer, reading, or chores, and then returning for a “second sleep” until dawn.
I am indifferent to whether it’s standard and daylight or either or.
What’s typically NDP level stupid is not doing it in sync with the rest of the west coast.
@ Jeff The life span of the average person prior to 1908 was substantially lower than it is today due to a myriad of reasons, which could have included a lack of daylight. Also, during the middle ages people used to get up at 3am and work for a couple of hours then go back to sleep. That also contributed to their short life span. Also working graveyard shift is a known risk to health. It seems we had moved beyond working or starting the day in darkness and our general health has improved and with it the length of our lives. The circadian rhythm of our bodies relies on our ability to start our day in sunlight and end it in darkness.
we all know danielle smith is stupid , but i had expected better from kinew
This is the only good thing the NDP has ever done, and now the media is giving voice to these idiots and stirring up the pot. We’re not changing the clocks anymore, you morons.
Why not just start school an hour later, if you’re concerned it’s too early?
Kids in general are functionally illiterate nowadays and trust me, it has nothing to do with what time have to get up in the morning to go to school…
Standard time is for four months of the year. All countries north of the arctic circle are in total darkness for two months of the year. Do they complain? Analysts are anal.
Our bodies adjusted when we started Daylight Savings time – prior to 1908, when Daylight Savings time didn’t exist, we didn’t have health issues that the neurologist is saying will happen. Our bodies will adjust. But education and information about what to expect so we can off-set the expected issues is needed so we can know what to expect and adjust our lives accordingly to minimize any possible issues until the body re-adjusts.
Health affects a side, if you don’t want to the clocks stay in the standard time zone your area belongs to.
Eby can’t even get the changing of the clocks right. Most experts say staying on standard time is better for the body than staying on daylight saving time. This is what happens when something is done purely for political reasons.
WRONG! the question asked was whether we wanted to do away with the bi-annual time change. Yes we do. Alberta last referendum asked if we wanted permanent daylight saving time. We responded with a resounding no.
I questioned Smith about the forced daylight time, and her response was ‘try it for a year, you will like it’. I side with the scientists on this one. Our teacher was trying to explain how to tell time with a compass and shadows. Our time was 2 hours off. Daylight savings, and on the western boundary of the time zone. I hate it. I did not have a fire all summer because it was too light. Now I am driving in the morning, in the dark.
@ whatever, they actually did ask and DST was the clear choice.
This article cites studies from the USA and Florida, both of which are south of Canada and, depending on their latitude, have considerably more light in the winter than Canada does. Try citing Canadian studies and acknowledging that people live farther North than 100 km from the American border. And stop trying to scare people and incite discontent.
They NEVER listen to their constituents, they don’t care what people want. They do as they please.
Most people want standard time but NOOOO, they will change it to DST.
They asked people if they want to leave it like it is (changing clocks twice a year) or leave DST (summer time) permanently, there was no option to choose standard time. What crooks!
They whined about the time change did the cupcakes, they went to no time change and the cupcakes still whine. The left whine about everything even when they got their way!
As for keeping Standard Time…I am not being woken up at 4 am by the sun in summer because of some vapid excuse for analysis.
I say, keep doing what we have been, because that doesn’t cost a dime.
I think the weak amongst us that can’t handle a one hour change twice per year shouldn’t drive policy.
It is absurd that neither Alberta nor BC offered the option to choose permanent standard time, which is what Saskatchewan and other places that do not switch clocks are on. I would have chosen to stay on Standard time. I’m sure many others would have chosen that too. But the opportunity was not given to express this. One wonders why those with an agenda were able to put through a poll without all of the options.
The only ones who benefit from dst are businesses. Worst decision for peoples health.
Time , daylight and a 24 hour clock … have little effect on me after many years of living on a schedule of inconsistant shift work … including an alternating early , late beginning at 0500 and 1030 hrs !
As well as a few stints on Night Shifts 1900 to sunrise !!
I am now retired and a normal sleep pattern is simply non existent… I sleep when tired and wake , the remainder !! Sun is King !! 🕰🌞🌌
And yet Saskatchewan has stayed on what is Alberta’s daylight savings time for a century and they are fine??? 🤷 Just sayin