Hello, takers of HBC and anyone else interested in these kinds of things. :)
In most areas of the United States and Canada,
Daylight Savings Time ends at 2:00am this Sunday, November 2.
In VP, this is often a time when we see quite a few posts by people using HBC (primarily pills), wondering how this affects their protection as well as when they should take their pills due to the time change.
We actually do address this question in
this section of our Vulvapedia entry on hormonal birth control. However, because of the number of folks who tend to wonder about this thing twice a year or so, we thought it was worth posting a reminder to the community main page. (And since the question is answered in our HBC Vulvapedia entry, it's also worth noting that it's deletable as a frequently asked question according to VP
policy.)
The bottom line: in terms of pill-taking, Daylight Savings Time is not a big deal:"...if you have otherwise been taking your pills at the same time, changing the time for one pill should not measurably compromise its effectiveness. For people having concerns about Daylight Savings Time changes, you can continue to take your pill at the same clock time since the one-time one hour difference is not likely to alter the pill's overall effectiveness."
You can continue taking your pills at your regular clock time.If you'd prefer to be extra cautious, there's no harm in using a back up method for 7 days. However, the credible sources we've been able to find -- primarily, the folks over at the
Managing Contraception website -- suggest that back-up protection isn't actually necessary as DST shouldn't measurably reduce your protection.
So do what works best for you, and enjoy any Halloween candy you might be eating today or extra hours you might be having this weekend. :)
-- Tori
For the VP Team
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