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Many Canadians appreciate an extra hour of restful sleep on the weekend to mark the end of Daylight Saving Time.

The conclusion of this seasonal time change, often referred to as a “fallback,” will see clocks set back an hour while most Canadians sleep on Sunday, November 3.

However, this practice has long been the subject of debate, and some provinces have recently considered abolishing it. Michael Antle, a professor at the University of Calgary, says daylight saving time ultimately leads to a poor night’s sleep.

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“Everyone had a (bad sleep),” Antle said. “You feel tired and horrible, but the next day you go to bed and sleep well. » He said DST can be more disruptive and affect sleep quality for several days by altering the body’s circadian rhythm, which regulates the sleep-wake cycle.

“These time changes seem to last longer,” he said.

Antle published a assessment of the controversy last year in the journal Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, which found that human safety, health and behavior are also altered after changes in circadian rhythm. It can even affect people’s generosity.

“Charitable giving drops significantly” during the biannual daylight saving time change, but particularly after the clock was moved forward an hour in March, Antle said.

Author David Prerau, known as the world’s leading expert on daylight saving time, says the solution is simple: preparation.

“If you’re traveling to a different time zone, you’re going to change your plans a little bit to account for that,” Prerau said. Get more sleep the night before, avoid late nights, and if you still feel tired, he added, avoid overloading your morning with projects.

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“By doing these things, you could get rid of a lot of these circadian problems,” he said.

However, Antle said not all negative outcomes are easy to avoid.

He said research, expected to be published soon, suggests a correlation between the “return” to standard time and increased car collisions with deer.

“Deer are crepuscular animals, meaning they are active at dawn and dusk,” Antle explained. “When we go back, it gives us an earlier evening sunset, which coincides with the evening drive home.”

“So the twilight activity (of the deer) would then coincide with the time when traffic is heavy. They’re actually seeing an increase in the rate of car accidents with deer.

Across Canada, the debate over daylight saving time has long been controversial, and some regions of the country choose to avoid the practice. Both Saskatchewan and Yukon stay on standard time throughout the year and do not change their clocks.

Ontario passed a private member’s bill in 2020 that aimed to adopt summer time permanentlybut only if Quebec and New York State do the same.

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British Columbia has also moved in this direction, with a 2019 law it would make DST permanent, but it would depend on three states, Washington, Oregon and California, making the change at the same time.

Michael Mak, clinical vice-president of the Canadian Sleep Society, said his organization wants to end the time change but is opposed to year-round daylight saving time and advocated the permanent application of standard time.

“Year-round standard time allows for more exposure to natural sunlight in the morning,” Mak told the National Post in a statement. This exposure “generally facilitates better mood and sleep, as well as better overall health,” he later wrote.

Antle, while himself an advocate for permanent standard time, said that above all else, a national strategy was needed.

“We need to coordinate these decisions across the country,” he said.

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