The government should abolish the UK’s twice-yearly clock changes because they are harming the nation’s sleep and impacting health and wellbeing, researchers have said as the nation prepares for its annual “extra hour in bed” on Sunday.
Members of the British Sleep Society, a professional organisation for medical, scientific and health workers, said evidence clearly shows that natural sunlight in the morning benefits sleep patterns, while changing the clocks has a negative impact.
They argue circadian rhythms—the physical, mental, and behavioural changes we experience over 24 hours—are most impacted by clocks moving forward in the spring, when Brits “lose” an hour.
Spring Forward, Fall Back
In the UK, the clocks go forward one hour at 1 a.m. on the last Sunday in March, and back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.The period when the clocks are one hour ahead is called British Summer Time (BST) and sometimes called Daylight Saving Time. When the clocks go back, the UK is on GMT, also known as Standard Time.
The statement comes from academics across the UK, led by Megan Crawford of the University of Strathclyde, Eva Winnebeck of the University of Surrey, and Malcolm von Schantz of Northumbria University.
Von Schantz said GMT “aligns closely with the natural light-dark cycles of the day and night” and “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 GMT 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.”
Winnebeck said people can underestimate the impact of the one hour shift to our rhythms.
“What we often don’t realise is that Daylight Saving Time (BST) changes our schedules, moving them forward by one hour while daylight remains the same.
‘Misguided Idea’
Crawford said there is a “misguided idea from a sleep and circadian health perspective” that clocks should move permanently forward.“Mornings are the time when our body clocks have the greatest need for light to stay in sync,” she said.
“At our latitudes, there is simply no spare daylight to save during the winter months and given the choice between natural light in the morning and natural light in the afternoon, the scientific evidence favours light in the morning.”
Changing the clocks was first established in the midst of the First World War, by the Summer Time Act 1916, after a campaign led by builder William Willett, who died before it was implemented.
Willett’s original proposal was to move the clocks forward by 80 minutes, in 20-minute weekly steps on Sundays in April and by the reverse procedure in September.
In 1916, BST began on May 21 and ended on Oct. 1.
BST was deviated from in the summers of 1941 to 1945, during the Second World War, when the UK was two hours ahead of GMT and operating on British Double Summer Time.
There were a number of parliamentary debates and inquiries into the changing of the clocks between the late 1950s and the early 1970s.
An inquiry during 1966–1967, led Harold Wilson’s Labour government to introduce the BST experiment, with the UK remaining on GMT+1 throughout the year.
This took place between Oct. 27, 1968 and Oct. 31, 1971, when there was a reversion to the previous arrangement following a free vote in the House of Commons.
Every country in the European Union and the majority of nations throughout the world observe daylight saving.
In Europe, only Iceland and Russia do not alter their clocks, while Japan and India and some African nations also opt out.
The government is not believed to have any plans to change the present daylight savings system.
