VANCOUVER -- Sleep and mental health researchers are calling on the British Columbia government to set an example for other provinces by ditching plans to adopt permanent daylight time.
They say the move would be most beneficial for children so they're not sleep deprived.
B.C. introduced legislation to go with year-long daylight time last fall after 93 per cent of about 220-thousand online-survey respondents were in favour.
An option for staying with standard time, which comes around every fall, was not offered.
Premier John Horgan has said he will wait to see whether neighbouring Washington, Oregon and California go with permanent daylight time based on federal approval in the United States, though California has yet to pass a law on that measure.
Alberta announced the results of a survey today showing 91 per cent of 141-thousand people who responded to an online poll preferred permanent daylight time and Yukon will spring ahead for the last time on Sunday to stick with that option.
Wendy Hall, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia's school of nursing, is among critics who say B.C. should adopt standard time so teens in particular aren't waking up in the dark, when their natural body clocks aren't aligned with light from the sun.
Hall is joined by mental health and sleep disorders researchers at UBC and Simon Fraser University who say the main benefit of standard time is light and how it works with our bodies to regulate the sleep-wake cycle.
