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Don't forget to reset your clocks tonight as we 'fall' back

Don’t forget, you get an extra hour of sleep tonight as we 'fall' back to Pacific Standard Time in most of B.C. but the good news is this may be the last time.

If you have any clocks or watches that need to be reset, turn them back one hour tonight, Nov. 5, as we switch to Pacific Standard Time from Daylight Saving Time at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 6.

The time change means the sunrise will be one hour earlier, but it also means it will be dark by around 5 p.m. tomorrow so plan accordingly.

READ MORE: Clocks will have to 'fall back' once again this November

B.C. passed legislation in 2019 making Daylight Saving Time permanent in the province but only if neighbouring U.S. states did the same. With things bogged down by big government in the U.S., clocks will still be turned a back one hour overnight.

Werner Antweiler, a professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, said the original incentive for daylight time was an economic move to harvest daylight for longer periods of daily activity, in an effort to conserve energy. Today, the idea has been made obsolete by better technology and more efficient lighting.

Antweiler said there is a strong incentive for Canada's time zones to be standardized with the U.S. since much of the countries' economic activity and businesses are integrated in the north-south direction, rather than east-west.

"If they move in one way, we're compelled to do it the same way," he said. "But it's all stalled still because it takes a long time for everything to get harmonized and everybody agreeing on which direction we're moving."

READ MORE: Time changes persist despite experts' consensus to end daylight time

Raymond Lam, a University of British Columbia professor and B.C. leadership chair in depression research, said circadian scientists, sleep researchers and clinicians generally agree that a permanent move to standard time would be preferred.

"All the circadian and sleep researchers are clear that permanent standard time should be adopted, we should not have the time zone change... for the sake of our health," he said. "Unfortunately, for whatever reason, we can't figure it out."

A June 2022 report submitted to Canadian Sleep Society by researchers at the University of Ottawa and Université de Montréal recommended federal and provincial governments move to yearlong standard time and consult with scientists before implementing changes.

Last week, Mexico approved a bill to eliminate daylight time altogether, putting an end to the practice of changing clocks twice per year. Some cities and towns along the U.S. border are able to retain daylight time since they are closely linked to U.S. cities.

University of Calgary professor Michael Antle, who studies circadian rhythms, said early morning light keeps our bodies synchronized to the day-night cycle when days are really short in the winter, and permanent daylight time would cause "chronic harm from being chronically desynchronized."

Antle said research indicates permanent daylight time would force us to get up an hour earlier for work and school in the winter, which could increase traffic and workplace accidents and see students' performance in school drop, all due to a lack of alertness.

"We've never had that experience in Canada of waking up on permanent daylight time in the winter, so people think it's not going to be so bad until they try it," he said.

Antle pointed to Russia, a country as far north as Canada, which moved to permanent daylight time in 2011 only to abandon it three years later.

Daylight Saving Time will return March 12, 2023, maybe for the last time.

The movement to end DST once and for all seemed to pick up back in 2015 when John Oliver from This Week Tonight asked: Why is this still a thing?

— With files from The Canadian Press


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