It’s that time of year again: it’s time to “fall back” (at least when it comes to our clocks). Daylight savings time comes to an end this weekend — here’s what you need to know.
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When do the clocks go back in Canada in 2022?
Every year, daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November at 2:00 AM local time. So, this year daylight savings time will end on Sunday, November 6, 2022, at 2 AM.
Before you go to bed on Saturday evening, be sure to adjust any clocks that need to be rolled back manually (for many of us, our smartphones and Wi-Fi-connected devices should adjust to the new time automatically).
The good news? This means that many of us will get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. The bad news? For many others, this time change can throw off their rhythms for a few days or even weeks.
See also: 10 Ontario festivals and quick escapes to brighten your weekends this fall.
Why do we have daylight saving time?
Why do we go through this back-and-forth with our clocks twice a year, every year? As explained in National Geographic, the reasoning behind daylight savings time is that it’s supposed to make it easier to best use the natural daylight for people in the Northern Hemisphere.
Basically, the theory is that we “spring forward” by moving the clocks up by an hour in the spring, and then “fall back” by an hour in the fall in order to get an extra hour of sunlight at the end of our workdays.
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How long does it take to adjust to daylight saving time?
While this may seem to make sense logically, it’s still controversial — many people do not support daylight savings time. The big reason that some people don’t love DST? As Global News explains, the switching of the clocks can have impacts on our health and wellness, including:
- A higher risk of strokes and heart attacks in the days following the time shift.
- A decrease in productivity — a 2012 study found that that “cyberloafing” increases to about 8.4 minutes of web surfing for every task-assigned hour.
- An increased incidence of car crashes after the time change (particularly in the spring).
- A rise in “social jet lag,” where people experience challenges like disrupted sleep and sleep debt, mental and physical fatigue, metabolism issues and more.
See also: 11 sleep myths you probably think are true.
Where was the first time daylight saving time was used?
Daylight savings time has been around for more than a hundred years — and it was actually first adopted on this land.
First proposed in 1895 by George Hudson in New Zealand, according to National Geographic, the original purpose for the change was to allow the entomologist to have more daylight hours to look for insects.
However, it wasn’t until May 1908 that the first cases of daylight savings time were actually adopted — in the towns of Port Arthur and Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario —to allow for an extra hour of daylight for after-work activities.
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Does everyone in Canada use daylight savings time?
Even though daylight savings time started in Canada, it is not followed in all parts of this land. Specifically, as outlined by Global News and CTV News, people in certain parts of Canada (such as those who live in Yukon, most of Saskatchewan and certain areas in British Columbia, Ontario, Nunavut, Labrador and Quebec) don’t follow daylight savings time — they stay on standard time all year-round.
For those parts of Canada that do follow daylight savings time, there are some calls for change (for example, in Ontario, BC and Alberta).
