The switch
Quick. What is the longest day of the year? For those near the equator, there is no such thing. But for those in the Northern Hemisphere they would say June 21, the summer equinox - the day we get the most sunlight. The earliest sunrise with the latest sunset. While this might be true for the sunlight, the longest day was actually today. The day we switched back from daylight savings time. And to do the switch today was physically a 25 hour day, one hour longer. And the shortest day would be the first Sunday of April which is a 23 hour day, where we lose an hour.
The clock’s changed this weekend. The twice-yearly switch in time. We fell back an hour. Fall back in fall. Got it?
It’s interesting to note that this was the last switch in the UK and most European countries where they have eliminated DST from next year. The United States and Canada are some of the very few holdouts of this industrial era (ergo 80’s and 90’s) practice. Several Canadian provinces indeed want to do let go, but we are all waiting for our southern counterpart - the United States to do it first so that we can align with their change. And I would love it if and when it happens.
I for one am impacted by this switch each year. And I am not sure why some like me are impacted more than others. My body clock struggles to adjust to the switch of just an hour. But, generally, I try to use this autumn switch to my advantage. It’s a very simple approach. Let the body clock run as is. So, if I usually get up at 6 AM, I get up at the same time. But now it is 5 AM. So, I have created an hour each morning. An hour that I use to exercise, shower, and get ready before anyone wakes at home. And I also get to bed earlier by one hour to compensate. And enjoy a better routine these six months to the next switch in time.
For the next year when the DST is switched on, I plan to adjust my wake-up time (and sleep times) by 5 minutes each few days, a few weeks in advance of the switch. Then, hopefully, I will be aligned to that new cycle without any switch when it happens in April. Or so is the plan. And I shall know what happens when this experiment happens. Look forward to a report on it in April next.