Vancouver Coastal Health says B.C.’s decision not to change its clocks back this fall could leave morning commutes darker and affect sleep-wake patterns.
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B.C. is not changing its clocks back this fall for the first time in more than a century, and Vancouver Coastal Health has issued a warning about potential impacts on people’s daily routines.
In its guidance, Vancouver Coastal Health said the morning commute will be darker than usual and could discourage walking or biking to school or work. It also advised people to improve visibility by wearing bright colours and reflective gear, and to make eye contact with drivers. Drivers, the health authority added, should slow down and drive for the conditions.
Vancouver Coastal Health said morning light plays an important role in setting the body’s internal clock, which helps support healthy sleep patterns. Ralph Mistlberger, a psychology professor at Simon Fraser University, said humans are dependent on morning light and warned that shifting when people get morning light can contribute to a mismatch. “Humans are dependent on the morning light,” he said. “When you move the morning light later, the clock moves later, so what does that mean?” Mistlberger added. He said the change can make it easier to stay up later and harder to wake up early, shifting the sleep-wake cycle.
Mistlberger also described how the effects may vary depending on whether people’s schedules change with the new timing. “But if your social calendar, your social schedule, your social clock doesn’t shift… then you generate a misalignment,” he said.
Patrick Baylis with the University of British Columbia’s School of Economics said the time-change adjustment could affect work schedules, especially for those with less flexibility. “The rule of thumb is the less flexible your work hours are and the closer that start is to when sunrise would have been, the more effective you are going to be,” Baylis said.
He explained that the impact is likely to be more pronounced for start times close to sunrise that shift relative to work hours over the course of the season. “So whereas you know, if you’re just required to be at work at eight, this matters a lot because you’re now going from a few weeks where the sunrise was going to be after the time where you were supposed to be at work, to a few months.”
The guidance also noted timing differences for travel across the border. It said that after Nov. 1, B.C. will be one hour ahead of Washington State, and residents should remember that when crossing into the United States.
The broader shift in Canadian provinces includes Alberta and Manitoba ending clock changes this year, Quebec planning to scrap the time change, while Saskatchewan has not changed its time since 1966 and Yukon ended the practice in 2020.
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