This past Sunday marked the end of Daylight Savings Time (DST) so everyone’s clock reverted by one hour and you got an extra hour of sleep. It’s funny that we are even still participating in this semi-annual chaos on our internal body clock. The whole reason that DST was created was during World War I to try to save energy. Just like income tax, it’s an artifact of global war.

During the fall months, instead of waking up and using electricity before sunrise, you are technically sleeping in for an additional hour and are able to wake up closer to sunrise. But now it is technically an hour later when you get off work, meaning that you are contending with the darkness for your commute home and your free time after work, so you are probably using more electricity overall. DST’s fall-back results in a decreased overall exposure to sunlight during the normal hours of free time, which only amplifies the effect of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

SAD is a direct result of less exposure to sunlight, which negatively effects our mood and can lead to feelings of drowsiness and depression. A 2017 study found that hospital visits for depression increased by 11% around the time of transition from DST to standard time. The study finds evidence that the distress associated with the sudden advancement of the sunset, marking the coming of a long period of short days, to explain the up-tick in hospital depression visits.

This leads us to preparing for the coming of shortened days and the eventual increased expenses at Christmas time. Unfortunately, we can’t make the days any longer but we can help some of the pain that comes along with Christmas over-spending through money management over the course of the next six and a half weeks. Is there anything that you can cut out of your normal spending routine for the time being? Review your regular subscriptions like cable packages, streaming services, unused gym memberships, or expensive meal kits. Can you forgo going out to eat and drink with friends and have them at your house instead? If there is something expensive that you want to purchase then you can utilize a “cooling off period” for a couple of days to see if you actually need that product or service.

We know that the next few months are going to be filled with more hours of darkness but you don’t have to magnify the effects of SAD with guilt and anxiety from having to play catch up in 2022 to pay for Christmas overspending too. Every dollar counts and you’ll thank yourself for whatever the amount that you can save over the coming weeks.

Want to chat about it? Email me at info@financerx.ca