What to know about the upcoming, confusing time change | Hanomansing Live

Throughout our lifetimes, the clocks have changed in almost the entire country twice a year. But as I'm sure you've heard, that's about to change. And it's a little bit complicated, including for those of you who listen or watch live national broadcasts. Okay, so here's what's going to happen. On Sunday, November the 1st, the clocks will fall back in six provinces and one territory, as they have for decades, with a small asterisk. Almost all, but not all of Ontario, and almost all, but not all of Nunavut. The rest of the country, the West, will stay on daylight saving time. And so, for the first time in our lifetime, the time difference between the eastern half and the western half of Canada will be different for six months. So, live national broadcasts that are scheduled in eastern time will now be at a different time for six months in the western half of Canada. Okay, let's give you an example. Cross-country checkup on CBC Radio and News Network. We'll still start at 4 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, but that means there'll be a new start time. Four in Manitoba, three in Alberta, two in British Columbia. Now this program, as you can tell from the title, is live, and so same start in the Eastern time zone on November the 2nd, but a new start time in Manitoba, 7, 6 in Alberta. Here in BC, we'll begin at 5 local time, except in Eastern BC, where they're on Alberta's time zone, so 6 o'clock. I told you, it's complicated, and it all starts Sunday, November the 1st. Usually at this time of year, we ask experts what impact the time change has on our bodies. But this year, there's that additional issue. What's the impact going to be for those of us in the West, saying on daylight saving time as the days get shorter? Michael Antel is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Calgary. Thank you very much for joining us. So, Michael, millions of us will not be turning the clocks back. In Vancouver, for example, in December, it's going to be dark when... People are getting up to go to work and kids are heading to school. What impact is that going to have? Yeah, so this is going to be new to all of us. We're going to be having the latest sunrises we've ever experienced here in Canada. Our circadian clock is what's at issue here, and it likes to follow daylight. And it's what makes it a little harder for us to wake up during these short winter days when the mornings are quite late. As they get later, we're going to struggle to get up and go to work, go to school. And that's going to be the really big challenge, getting up an hour earlier than our body really wants to on those days. I feel like as an adult, I'm much better at getting up than I was when I was younger, especially than I was as a teenager. But from a scientific perspective, is it going to be tougher on school kids than it will be for adults? Yeah, so you're talking about our chronotype, and that's whether you're a morning lark or a night owl. And that does change over your lifespan. Thanks, man. The adolescents and young adults, so high school students, university age students, those are the people who tend to be the most night owlish. And they really do struggle waking up early in the morning. So if they have a nine to five job or have to go to school and be at their desk early, that's going to be a big challenge for them. That 8 a.m. start for school is going to feel like 7 a.m. for their bodies. Here in B.C. and maybe in Alberta as well, school boards have reached out to parents informing them that, for example, for Sarah Galashian's kids at the school they're at, that children should be given reflective wear as they walk to school, maybe carry flashlights. I know your expertise is psychology and neuroscience, not road safety, but how important is it to put these kind of advisories out for kids? Well, absolutely. When the United States tried permanent daylight time back in the early 70s, they actually gave up on it because a number of children were injured or killed on the way to school in the mornings. Drivers always have a challenge in Canada when it's dark and cold and icy, but now they're also tired. So the kids need to do everything they can to make sure they're visible or anybody actually out walking, wear reflective clothing, be aware the drivers can't I can't see you or are probably tired behind the wheel. BC, Alberta, Manitoba did the right thing here by not changing the clock, but did the wrong thing by sticking to daylight saving time as opposed to standard time. Most of the science suggests exactly what you've just said, that we've been advocating to do away with the clock changes for a long time. But you have to pick a time and the more natural standard time is better for overall health and behavior. We've done the spring forward fall back so we could have the benefits of long days in the summer without the harm of having these late sunrises in the winter. Places that have tried this in the past, Russia and the United States, UK, always gave up on it after a few years when they realized this isn't really what they thought they were in for. One last thing. You know, I go to Alberta for work periodically, as I did a couple of weekends ago. It's a one hour time difference. No big deal. And yet every year when we hear about the time change, we hear how onerous it is for so many people. They're more. Car crashes, this was in the old days when we went from daylight saving to standard time. So for the half of the country that's still doing the time change on the night of October 31st, the morning of November 1st, is it as disruptive as we hear? Well, for most people, they'll find this one actually an easier one to deal with because it realigns your work and school schedules with what your body wants to do. It's the one in the spring where the big misalignment seems to cause a lot of harm. Thank But so it's one, it's only one hour time change on the clock, but it's really the resynchronization of your body clock with the schedule. So that affects you every day, every morning. All right. Great talking to you about this. Michael Antle is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Calgary. Thank you. you. Thank you.