Our clocks have been going forward and backward once each year for what feels like forever. But as far as traditions go, daylight savings hasn’t really been around for long. It began in the UK in 1916 to make better use of daylight hours and ensure people could work longer and save fuel during World War I.
This year the clocks will be going back at 2am on Sunday, October 27, marking the start of Greenwich Mean Time and giving us all an extra hour of sleep. And who doesn’t love more sleep? Not everyone, it seems – there’s a campaign to put an end to clock changes altogether.
The debate over whether to scrap daylight savings has been going on for a while now. When the European parliament voted to axe it in 2019 (the legislation still hasn’t gone through), Boris Johnson said it seemed ‘unlikely’ that it would happen here in the UK.
The British Sleep Society wants to see the end of enforced clock changing. It says that our circadian (the body’s natural 24-hour cycle of physical, mental, and behavioural changes) and sleep health are negatively impacted by it.
Daylight savings also means that most of us are waking up and commuting in the dark each morning in the winter, depriving our bodies of natural light.
Professor Malcom Von Schantz of Northumbria University is one of the academics involved in the BSS research. He said: ‘In calling for Standard Time to run year-long, the Society emphasises that natural daylight in the morning is crucial for maintaining an optimal alignment of our body clocks with day and night, which is essential for optimal sleep and overall health.’
He added: ‘Restoring permanent Standard Time would mean our clocks would be closely aligned to solar time, and while it would mean earlier sunsets in the summer, there would be additional benefits to health from improved sleep and circadian alignment due to increased exposure to morning sunlight from autumn to spring.’
So whaddya think? Does that extra lie-in still seem worth it?
Did you see that snow and -5C temperatures will freeze the UK next week?
Plus: A new train line will soon improve access to one of the UK’s most remote seaside areas.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.