Daylight Saving Time 2022: Spring forward on Sunday

It’s almost time to spring forward.

On Sunday at 2 a.m., clocks will move ahead one hour to 3 a.m., meaning less sleep but more daylight — hence the name.

A private members bill introduced in 2020 at Queens Park by Jeremy Roberts — an MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean — called for the elimination of the yearly time change, leaving Ontario’s clocks permanently in daylight saving time.

The bill was unanimously passed by MPPs and became law in November 2020. But, there’s a significant caveat. The change would only come into effect if the New York state and Québec governments passed similar legislation.

Most of Canada is on Daylight Saving Time (DST) — only parts of Saskatchewan and areas in British Columbia remain on Standard Time (ST) year-round. Yukon made DST permanent in 2020.

Benjamin Franklin is widely credited with coming up with the notion of making better use of the day’s light. United Kingdom resident William Willett was among the first to advocate for DST — which sees clocks move forward an hour in the spring and an hour back in the fall.

It has its fair share of criticism, with many pointing to increased motor vehicles collisions and heart attacks.

“… There are the health benefits. The sleep disruptions that come with time shifts have been linked to [a] higher risk of heart attack and stroke, and a decline in mental health,” Jim Braude of The Boston Globe writes. “With more light, we might even exercise more — much needed if we are to lose our ranking as one of the most obese countries in the world.”

In 2008, researchers with the New England Journal of Medicine attributed a slight surge in heart attacks to changes in people’s sleep patterns in the springtime. More recent data aligns with that conclusion.

“We don’t really know the specific reason for increases in heart disease and stroke during the daylight saving time change, but it likely has something to do with the disruption to the body’s internal clock, or its circadian rhythm,” Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, president of the American Heart Association, said recently.

Conversely, research has suggested that there are fewer traffic accidents with more daylight later in the evening, as there are fewer cars on the road when it’s dark outside.

Whatever side you’re on, we can all agree that changing the clocks a few times every year is tedious business — more so when you leave the incorrect time in your car or on your microwave for months on end, swearing you’ll change it next time, but never do. I get it.

Daylight Saving Time will be in place until November 6, 2022 — on which date clocks will “fall back.”

— With files from Nick Westoll of CityNews