U.S. And Canada Make Switch To Daylight Savings Time

March 9, 2008 12:01 p.m. EST

 
Regina, Canada (AHN)-- The pre-school motto "early to bed, early to rise" could help adults cope with the extra stress brought about by switching to daylight time, sleep experts say.

Dr. Ralph Downey, chief of sleep medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California warns that while adults look forward to the extra hour of daylight, they often overlook that daylight time could also cause sleep deprivation.

At 2 a.m. local time on Sunday most of the country - except Saskatchewan and the Nunavut Territory - switched from standard to daylight time in an effort to help conserve energy.

The US Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandates that Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the US and Canada start on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.

Downey says the loss of an hour of sleep is heightened by the fact that most adults don't get enough sleep to begin with.

The doctor stresses that daylight time is the perfect opportunity to make people aware of the importance of getting enough sleep: getting up an hour earlier for work should therefore mean turning in an hour ahead.