TIMMINS -- The time of year is upon us when people may welcome the extra hour of daylight or dread losing an hour of sleep.
Farmers historically protested the tradition — although Patsy Schmidt, co-owner of Timmins-based farm Acres of Dreams, doesn’t see the fuss about adjusting her clocks.
"The time change doesn't affect me overall a lot, it just means I sleep in an hour more or sleep an hour less," said Schmidt.
"With the animals it doesn't change too much, we just have to change our timers on our hot water heaters and stuff like that. It changes them a little bit but it doesn't hurt."
Experts say interfering with people’s internal clocks comes with negative health affects like higher rates of heart attacks, stroke, weight gain, and anxiety — as well as contributing to car accidents and workplace injuries.
Queen’s Park is hoping to help with this and boost business in the future by promising to make daylight saving time permanent in the province, as long as Quebec and the state of New York join as well.
For those who hadn’t prepared for the time change by sleeping at least a half-hour early, experts suggest making habits of healthy eating, exercise, and having a consistent sleep schedule to help you transition more smoothly to the change over the next two weeks, which experts say is the typical amount of time it takes people’s bodies to adjust.
While people adjust their physical and internal clocks, the Timmins Fire Department suggest people add another task while they’re at it.
"One of the most important things we encourage people to do is change the batteries and test their smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm," said Lt. John Mavrinac.
"Without a working smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm ... in the event of a fire, they won't wake you up."
