How can the time change have so much power over me? Yes, I’m a Saskatchewan girl but come on, it’s a measly hour! Growing up in Saskatchewan I never experienced the disturbed sleep patterns that come with daylight savings time. Although I’ve lived in Alberta now for 16 years, I still struggle both fall and spring when that dreaded clock falls back or spring forward.
The biggest problem I have is how it affects my sleep cycle. As we all know, when we aren’t sleeping our overall health is deeply impacted. We can have difficulties concentrating, memory loss, and our overall mental health can decrease. Loss of sleep can trigger anxiety and depression, especially for those of us who are more susceptible to anxiety. I can only describe my experience with it as similar to jet lag.
It usually takes me up to a couple of weeks to adjust. As I’m writing this, it sounds a little ridiculous. I think many of us experience the effect the time change can have on our “internal body clock” as we try to adapt! Once our local clock no longer matches our internal clock, it definitely causes mental and physical fatigue.
When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was confused as to what time it “really” was. Did I lose an hour or gain - if the clock says 8:00, is that 7:00 or 9:00 in real life? As you can see, I still struggle with which way the clock goes. I’m constantly asking questions like “So does that mean we have more or less daylight?” This can’t be good for anyone’s mental health! How do people live in Alaska?
The debate remains, and as always, everyone has an opinion on if daylight savings time is good or bad. I guess it depends on the perspective of the person you’re asking. It may not be good for our mental health, but maybe it’s good for farmers or even golfers? I don’t know. When I read the pros and cons, I can see both sides. I love having an extra hour of daylight in the summer when we’re camping and outdoors, but when it’s dark by 4:30 in the winter, I just want to crawl into bed. It definitely affects my mood.
Although this is a part of my reality a couple of times each year, in the whole grand scheme of things with everything going on in the world, this is hardly worth complaining about. So it takes me a couple of weeks to adjust, no biggie. There are definitely more important causes out there that we need to address. There is people we need to help, causes to fight for - lots of different issues where we could focus our attention to make the world a better place.
I hope we all find something out there that we are passionate about that helps us serve the world. Whether it’s volunteering, donating, or charity work - anyway, we can engage in acts of service to help others. Compassion and empathy are what the world needs. I’m a firm believer that compassion is the foundation for uniting humanity and connection can end violence. We must all do our part in making the future a brighter place. Donate your time, skills, or money to a cause. Do anything that helps to spread a little love! We all have skills in different areas, that’s what makes the world such a unique, special place; use those skills for good. And, above all else, we all have little people in our lives so if not for others, do it for them. After all, they’re our future!
Until next time…