Daylight Savings Is Coming Up & The Time Jump Can Have Sneaky Effects On Your Body
It's not just a silly tradition!
A sunrise over Montreal's skyline in spring.
Despite the copious snow and freezing temperatures, spring is definitively on its way. With the warmer season comes the time to leap forward again, bringing us back to daylight savings time after our "fall back" in November. But instead of an extra hour of sleep, this time, we'll be losing an hour! Great news.
The particular hour we'll all miss out on comes at 2 a.m. on the morning of March 12, 2023. Thanks to this change, we'll get a little more light each evening, as the sun rises later in the day. Despite some pushes to abolish daylight savings time, it's a standard practice across Canada and the U.S., with each leap forward taking place on the first Sunday of March and each returning to standard time on the first Sunday in November.
In the European Union, the spring time change takes place two weeks later than it does in Canada, and Newfoundland is half an hour behind the other Atlantic provinces, while Saskatchewan, the Yukon and some parts of British Columbia keep the same time throughout the whole year.
In total, Canada has six time zones, covering four and a half hours of difference.
When the clocks change, some people experience mild negative side effects: increased sleep deprivation, mood changes and concentration can all be affected by such a change in your sleep schedule, according to Protegez-Vous.
The effect is more prominent for those with stricter sleep schedules, like children or pets. This is why your dog or cat might get offended when you don't feed him at the "right" time — your fur baby has no idea that human societies decided to arbitrarily change his dinnertime.
Usually, these negative side effects don't last for more than a week-long adjustment period.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
