The first Sunday in November is nearly upon us and this year, that means a couple of things.
Because it lands on Nov. 1, in addition to being inundated with Christmas at every turn, this Sunday, we will also get an early start on the semi-annual time change.
Adopted by Germany during the First World War, the practice of observing daylight saving time quickly spread to Canada.
The idea, apparently, was that people could take the best advantage of daylight in the mornings, and setting clocks ahead each spring and back each autumn would help maximize useful hours of morning sunlight.
In doing so, the theory was, energy would also be saved, reducing the need for electric light.
Back when many people 鈥� farmers in particular 鈥� rose and retired with the sun, it made sense.
Today, not so much.
Most of us punch a clock that requires us to be somewhere at certain time, regardless of the sun鈥檚 place in the sky.
Today, even Saskatchewan 鈥� a province known for its agricultural base 鈥� and traditionally farm-dependent parts of Northern B.C. don鈥檛 observe daylight time. Granted, it can get confusing as to whether you鈥檙e in sync with the rest of B.C. or Alberta at a given time of year, but that is a small price to pay for not having to spend a whole week readjusting your internal clock.
Of the two, of course, most of us prefer to fall back and gain that precious extra hour of sleep. And, according to the CBC, that preference is borne out in Swedish studies that indicate more heart attacks occur in the week following spring change, while there are fewer than average in the week following fall back.
It鈥檚 not all good news, though.
According to police, the number of pedestrian deaths increases threefold after the fall time change, as drivers to adjust to a darker evening commute.
It鈥檚 a debate that comes up every year, and of course there are arguments to be made for and against. But to us, it seems like an idea whose time has come 鈥� and gone.
