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Last Sunday my phone took up the reins of power and switched to summer time, rudely stating that I was already an hour behind the schedule. 

I guess I put in the wrong time-zone settings when I was installing or updating the system but it took me a few moments to understand why the time on the alarm clock was different from the phone. This little accident reminded me of good old university years back in Russia, when I used the time manipulations to excuse the sleep-ins, as well as a few situations when I actually forgot to adjust the clock and had wonderful dates with myself and a cup of coffee waiting for others to come on time – an hour later.

So far, most of my life I’ve lived changing a clock to daylight saving time and adjusting it back to wintertime every year. At some point, about 10 years ago now, the Russian government decided to change this custom for the entire country, so the population stopped in the summertime. I assume that for some regions it was fine, but St. Petersburg has 60 sunny days a year on average, and some of them fall on winter days.

So when we all started getting up an hour earlier than before in winter, I felt that the sun completely gave up on us and left for California. It was yet pitch-dark when I would get up to go to work, and it was already dark when I left the office. And that would last for a good five-six months.

Not that long after, the government heard people's prayers, or probably just got sick of living in the dark for half of the year, and changed its mind. The clock was thawed out. According to surveys conducted at the time, two-thirds of the population didn't want to see time changing twice a year again. And starting in 2014, most of Russia froze in the wintertime. Several regions opted in for summertime, but it seemed that by 2018 all constituent territories of the federation or simply states settled with their time and quit changing it every year.

When I came to Saskatchewan, the Russian-wide debate about the clock was still ongoing. So when someone simply explained the situation here saying that Saskatchewan doesn't observe the daylight saving time (which is the case since 1959, by the way) because the rest of the world is turning on it, I had a good laugh and felt my first sympathy for this province.  

But in general, the talks about the pros and cons of daylight saving time are way older than me. It's so old that you would think by now we should have had an answer. Nevertheless, supporters and opponents of summer and winter times lifestyle still have something to say, which results in more research and more experiments regularly occurring at different parts of the world and also regularly proving that first ones and then the others were right.

The debate in general is pretty simple. Those supporting the switch to summertime state that this allows to rationally use the daylight, which helps to save energy.

Opponents on the other side are sure that there is no economy in it. Moreover, they believe that the change of clocks twice a year results in extra expenses, because on top of all the clocks nowadays, we have to reset and readjust all types of equipment systems and operations. This group also points out that no matter how many years countries have been changing times, some people there still miss out on the date and end up being too late or too early for work the following day.

The hottest disputes occur among medical professionals.

Some doctors are sure that time manipulations are negatively affecting our biorhythms, which makes us feel worse. Some believe that the wintertime is closer to astronomical and thus better for the life and health of people. Surveys show that in many places in the world, more people support this view, as they notice that they feel different when they have to readjust their natural schedules twice a year.  

Other medical pros are confident that changing clock plays no role in the way we feel, and astronomical time is not that important in the world of progress, where we don't rely on natural factors as much as we used to.

While the arguments are straightforward, ways of proving the position keep developing and changing.

I never really liked adjusting both the clock and my body, which doesn't appreciate me messing up with its settled schedule. So the Saskatchewan style, which soon became a new reality in St. Petersburg as well, always appealed to me. And once I fixed my phone last Sunday, I closed my eyes and happily let my body relax, being sincerely grateful for the province's choice in the time debate.