So, what do you want first, the good news or the bad news?
Ok, the good -- turn your clocks back 1 hour when you go to bed Saturday night and you'll get a glorious extra hour of sleep.
More good -- you'll wake up the next morning to a lighter, brighter day.
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Now, the bad news.
The return to Standard Time means on Sunday the sun will set an hour earlier at 4:32 pm making for a longer, darker night.
Oh ya, the time change will also toy with your circadian rhythm -- your own internal body clock -- so you might be tired or alert at the wrong times, your sleep could be disrupted and your mood may swing from happy to sad.
All in all, for most people the time change is a minor blip, something they hardly notice.
For others it's a seasonal downer because, seriously, it's dark at 4:32 pm, which is only three-quarters of the way through the afternoon.
It makes for a long dark night.
The clock changing used to be more of a ritual than it is now.
Most of our electronic devices, including our smartphones, will automatically fall back an hour at 2 a.m on Sunday morning, which is the official change over from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time.
So, you'll probably only have to change the time on your clock radio (if you still have such a thing) and any decorative wall clocks.
The key with the time change is to adjust your mindset.
Relish that extra hour of sleep, enjoy the extra hour of light in the morning and brace yourself for it to get dark and dreary earlier.
The reality is, Sunday, with its switch to Standard Time, essentially still has the same amount of daylight as the day before in Daylight Savings Time.
But, Standard Time offers up more of that light in the morning and steals it from the afternoon and evening.
For instance, on Saturday the sun will rise at 7:48 am and set at 5:34 pm for a day length of 9 hours and 46 minutes.
On Sunday, the sun will rise at 6:49 am and set at that aforementioned 4:32 pm for a day length of 9 hours and 43 minutes.
Plus, the days will only get shorter as we trudge toward the shortest day of the year on Dec. 21 when the sun will rise at 7:53 am and set at 3:59 pm (yes! 3:59 pm) for a scant day length of 8 hours and 5 minutes.
You can look at this two ways -- either embrace the darker evenings and cocoon with family and friends to eat hearty meals, read or hit the couch and watch Netflix, or, pray that spring comes faster.
Pressure to do away with time changes and stick to a fixed system year round has been around for years.
While BC, Alberta and Ontario are interested in doing it, BC won't pull the trigger until Washington state, Oregon and California, which are all in our time zone, decide to do it.
Thumbnail photos by Bruce Mars, Indra Projects and Malvestida on Unsplash
