In the UK the clocks go forward by one hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March, and back by one hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October – this arrangement was constituted in 1972 with the British Summer Time Act
British Summer Time officially begins this weekend, as the clocks go forward on Sunday morning. This marks the end of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which means the evenings will be lighter from next week.
In the UK the clocks go forward by one hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March, and back by one hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October. This arrangement was constituted in 1972 with the British Summer Time Act, and as of tomorrow, we will officially be under Daylight Saving Time.
But besides losing an hour of sleep, the positive and negative impacts of daylight savings are hotly debated, and over the last decade, many have argued to get rid of the bi-annual clock change and restore a permanent standard time. Either we switch to Daylight Saving Time all year or to Greenwich Mean Time – and there are solid arguments for both. So, here is everything you need to know about why and when the clocks go forward, as well as the impact on your body.
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When do the clocks go forward?
The clocks go forward at 1am on the last Sunday in March. This year, that will be on March 30, and British Summer Time – which is also known as Daylight Saving Time – lasts until the final Sunday in October, when the clocks go back an hour.
How does it affect the sunlight?
Early risers will notice darker mornings immediately after the March change, while evenings will be lighter as the sun sets later. As sunrise and sunset times continue to extend, parts of the UK will see almost 19 hours of daylight by the summer solstice on June 21. When the clocks for back, the days get shorter as it it becomes much darker in both the mornings and evenings.
Greenwich Mean Time was the default legal time used in Britain before Daylight Saving Time was introduced. When the clocks go back, the country returns to the default time zone introduced in 1880.
When was DST introduced?
A common misconception in the UK is that Daylight Saving Time was introduced to help farmers with their daily activities. However, it was first temporarily instituted by Germany and its allies during the First World War to save energy. The UK and others soon followed. Several dairy farmers have complained that the change disrupts their schedule and unsettles cows which struggle to cope with the schedule change.
In Britain, Daylight Saving Time was first proposed by inventor William Willett in 1907. He published a pamphlet called The Waste Of Daylight, which outlined his frustration with not getting the most out of summer days.
He initially proposed that clocks jump forward by 80 minutes in four steps in April and reversed the same way in September. He died before any law was implemented in the UK, but his great-great-grandson, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, has seen it in action. Germany first introduced it in 1916, during the First World War and the UK followed suit a few weeks later.
What are the benefits of the clocks going forward?
There are a lot of benefits of the clocks going forward. Dr Jeffrey Kelu, circadian rhythms expert at King’s College London, said there were some suggestions that Daylight Saving Time helps reduce crime rates as there are more people out during the lighter evenings, making it harder for crimes to be committed.
He added: “Also, there are fewer traffic accidents because there is more light and people can see the traffic conditions more clearly. But there are conflicting studies.”
People are also in favour of clocks going forward because of the increased daylight in the morning. Your circadian rhythm is your body’s natural 24-hour clock, and it keeps your body operating on a healthy wake-sleep cycle. This drives the daily timing of our functions, such as sleep, metabolism, and mood.
The key to keeping these rhythms in sync is exposure to light. Morning light brings clocks and the rhythms forward, while light later in the evening delays them. In our modern life, we spend most of our time indoors and rely on artificial light.
We also spend a lot of time using electronic devices, which can disrupt the circadian rhythm. This makes it harder for us to fall asleep at night, and wake up in the morning. Therefore, sunlight is crucial in keeping our body clocks running smoothly. Morning light helps us initiate sleep early enough to wake up naturally, which can potentially make us more productive throughout the day.
What are the negatives?
Dr Kelu added: “The circadian clock regulates our physiology and metabolism, and we know that extreme cases such as shift working, causing circadian misalignment, will lead to increased risk in metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. We believe that even for daylight savings time, the changing of the clock would be affecting health in some sense.
“The most acute effect would be the loss of an hour of sleep and also the inability to adapt to the new working schedule. So the scientists and communities, as well as the sleep experts, actually suggest removing daylight savings as a whole.”
What can you do to prepare?
Dr Kelu suggests gradually changing the time you go to sleep in small increments in the days leading up to Daylight Saving Time so it has less of an impact. He said: “Because we cannot change the daylight saving time now, the thing is we can slowly prepare for it even though there’s not many days left.
“But we can slowly adjust to it by changing your clocks, for example, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, until the hour changes.”
Should daylight savings time be abolished?
According to a recent YouGov poll from October, if our current system were scrapped, 59% of Britons would opt for the country to stay permanently on British Summer Time.
Alex Mayer, Labour MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, has called for a “major overhaul of time” and a conversation about “how best to use our nation’s daylight hours” in a parliamentary debate. She said a return to what is known as “Churchill Time” used during the Second World War – when clocks moved an hour ahead in winter and two hours ahead in spring and summer – could help save a combined £485million in yearly electricity bills, and reduce carbon emissions by more than 400,000 tonnes.
Dr Kelu said: “I think the UK Government has not seriously conceived or actively discussed scrapping daylight savings but there is some discussion happening in the EU, and the States are also trying to pass a law to remove the daylight savings time. But the more complicated thing to follow would be which time do we use if we remove daylight savings time. From scientific evidence, we actually recommend sticking with the standard time, which would be GMT in the UK.
“We think that the morning light is the most important because the morning light will be required to synchronise your body clock with the environment. So after balancing all this scientific evidence, we think that keeping the morning light would be more important and beneficial to health.”
US President Donald Trump posted in December that he wanted to scrap Daylight Summer Time. His secretary of state Marco Rubio has also called for a change, described the current twice a year time change as “stupid”.
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