Author Archives: Fields MacHattie

Daylight Savings Time: Are we just falling back on bad habits?

Posted on November 5, 2018 | 3 comments

Twice every year, we Canadians bow down to daylight savings time and set our clocks either back or forward one hour. Some of us look forward to this, while others just grumble and go along with it because it’s tradition. Canada led the daylight savings time charge back on July 01, 1908, when Port Arthur, Ontario became the first municipality in the world to enact daylight savings time. But there must be more to it than tradition. My old colleague, in defense of daylight savings time, famously stated “the plants need the extra hour of light to grow!”. Clearly there are some bad arguments in favour of daylight savings, but there are some good ones as well.

No Daylight Savings Time Here by Kevin Harber of Flickr

Humans are diurnal, so we’re generally active when it’s light out, and sedentary when it’s dark. An extra hour of light keeps us active for a longer part of our day, making us healthier than if we had simply watched TV. With the extra hour of daylight, tourists also spend more time out of their hotels, spending money in the local economy. According to the Policy Studies Institute in the U.K., “the U.K. tourism industry could experience a boost of 3.5 billion pounds (about 5.6 billion U.S. dollars) per year under permanent daylight savings time”.  The benefits don’t end here either! Under daylight savings, we see an estimated 13% fewer traffic accidents. Additionally, the extra daylight from the spring shift causes a 7% decrease in robberies! So why are some people against daylight savings time?

The arguments against daylight savings time boil down to money and health. A study in the state of Indiana found that residential demand for electricity increases under daylight savings time. In the workplace, productivity drops when time springs ahead. Changing the clock also messes up our internal clocks, causing various sleep-related health issues. In the working days following the time change, researchers found that both the rate and severity of workplace injury increased. That’s not the only health-related problem either. The shift to daylight savings time increases the incidence of heart attacks. With problems like these, it’s certainly not a cut and dry debate.

Each of these benefits and drawbacks affect each of us differently, so we will all  have a different opinion. If we all weigh in, our solution will serve the people. What do you think about daylight savings time?

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What are you afraid of? It’s Just a Little Prick.

Posted on October 15, 2018 | 1 comment

Flu season is just around the corner, and you know what that means. Coughing people lurking around every corner, just waiting to infect you. If you’re unlucky and unprepared, you’ll get a week of cold sweats, aches, a stuffy nose, and up to a month of coughing, providing there are no complications. If you’re thinking that’s as bad as it gets, you’re dead wrong. According to the Canadian government, influenza kills 3,500 people and hospitalizes 12,200 every year in Canada. That’s horrible, but what can we do?

According to Health Canada, “Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent influenza and its complications”. So why aren’t more people getting a flu shot? Some people are lazy and just feel like rolling the dice. Think of the time I’ll save by skipping the vaccine every year! If that describes your attitude, take a second to think about the amount of time you’ll lose by getting the flu just once. You could get over a hundred flu shots in that time, AND you wouldn’t feel terrible. You can get a free flu vaccine at most pharmacies, and many employers offer a free vaccine. It really only takes upward of an hour every year. The alternative is a week feeling miserable. I’d say that’s a no-brainer. So why else are people avoiding the needle?

It turns out some prominent researchers argue that the vaccine isn’t really that effective. Among them is epidemiologist named Tom Jefferson. Jefferson, in a critique of influenza vaccine studies, said “Rubbish is not a scientific term, but I think it’s the term that applies”. His main gripe is that researchers often don’t know the cause of death of study participants who die, so it’s impossible to say whether or not the vaccine is responsible for the difference in mortality observed between groups. His peers, however, point to the simple fact that, year after year, vaccinated people account for a smaller proportion of infected individuals. Every year, the CDC funds a study to determine the efficacy of that year’s vaccine and publishes the results for the public to see. As we can plainly see, the vaccines are doing what they advertise.

Flu Vaccine Efficacy by Year – Data Courtesy of the CDC

The last thing that you should consider is that some people are allergic to flu vaccines, or are unable to receive a vaccine for other reasons. These vulnerable people rely on herd immunity, which is a form of immunity afforded by a population that has high immunity. If most of the population has an immunity,  vulnerable individuals have a reduced chance of coming in to contact with an infectious individual.

Vaccination is your patriotic duty. It’s your selfish duty. It just makes sense.

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Trimming the Fat: Is the Canadian Ban on Trans Fats Justified?

Posted on October 8, 2018 | 1 comment

Canadian Minister of Health, Genitte Petitpas Taylor, announced one year ago that Canada would be banning the addition of trans fats in food, and that ban came in effect today. Officials predicted the ban is going to prevent 12000 deaths from heart disease over the next 20 years.

Heart disease is no laughing matter. According to the Canadian Ministry of Health, “About 1 in 12 (or 2.4 million) Canadian adults age 20 and over live with diagnosed heart disease” and “Every hour, about 12 Canadian adults age 20 and over with diagnosed heart disease die”. So, what can we do to beat heart disease? Exercising, drinking and smoking in moderation, and eating a healthy diet are what any doctor will suggest. When it comes to eating a healthy diet, trans fats are public enemy number 1, but why is that?

Trans fats contain cholesterol that is carried in the body by proteins. The most common are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). These two lipoproteins bind to cholesterol to make it soluble in water so that it can move around our body. Unfortunately, LDL is also responsible for the plaques in our heart and arteries that contribute to heart disease. Knowing this, it’s a no-brainer to reduce the amount of LDL cholesterol we eat. Trans fats have a high proportion of LDL to HDL cholesterol relative to other fats, so avoiding them is the obvious choice. If you’re worried that your favourite treats will soon be off the shelf, there’s no need to worry.

Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger – Courtesy Clay Caviness of Flickr

Protecting people is part of a government’s job, and the Canadian government should have taken action to protect Canadians from this health threat years ago. Canada has finally joined a global initiative to reduce trans fats in food, alongside the United States of America and the European Union. While our heel-dragging isn’t great for our health, we can at least rest easy knowing that food manufacturers in the USA and the EU have already had time to remove trans fats from their products, so we can keep buying them in Canada without interruption. While some alternatives to trans fats are a little more expensive, we can at least pay with our wallets rather than our health. I’ll raise a doughnut to that.

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Trimming the Fat: Is the Canadian Ban on Trans Fats Justified?

Posted on September 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canadian Minister of Health, Genitte Petitpas Taylor, announced one year ago that Canada would be banning the addition of trans fats in food, and that ban came in effect today. Officials predicted the ban would prevent 12000 deaths from heart disease over the next 20 years.

Heart disease is no laughing matter. According to the Canadian Ministry of Health, “About 1 in 12 (or 2.4 million) Canadian adults age 20 and over live with diagnosed heart disease” and “Every hour, about 12 Canadian adults age 20 and over with diagnosed heart disease die”. So, what can we do to beat heart disease? Exercising, drinking and smoking in moderation, and eating a healthy diet are what any doctor will suggest. When it comes to eating a healthy diet, trans fats are public enemy number 1, but why is that?

Heart plaque – Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

Trans fats contain cholesterol that is carried in the body by proteins. The most common are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). These two lipoproteins bind to cholesterol to make it soluble in water so that it can move around our body. Unfortunately, LDL is also responsible for the plaques in our heart and arteries that contribute to heart disease. Knowing this, it’s a no-brainer to reduce the amount of LDL cholesterol we eat. Trans fats have a high proportion of LDL to HDL cholesterol relative to other fats, so avoiding them is the obvious choice. If you’re worried that your favourite treats will soon be off the shelf, there’s no need to worry.

Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger – Courtesy Clay Caviness of Flicker

Canada has joined a global initiative to reduce trans fats in food, alongside the United States of America and the European Union, and we’re a little late to the party. While our heel-dragging isn’t great for our health, we can at least rest easy knowing that food manufacturers in the USA and the EU have already had time to remove trans fats from their products, so we can keep buying them in Canada without interruption. While some alternatives to trans fats are a little more expensive, we can at least pay with our wallets rather than our health. I’ll raise a doughnut to that.

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