will admit that ever since I was a teenager I have been favourably disposed towards putting the clocks back in the autumn. The idea of an extra hour in bed after the clock has ticked back from 1.59am to 1am has always appealed to me.
What I have never enjoyed about the switch away from British summer time is that we lose an hour of daylight in the evening. That first Sunday afternoon when twilight arrives before 5pm is always a shock to the system. I can’t help but feel cheated. I know we get that hour of daylight back in the mornings, but somehow that earlier hour never feels like adequate compensation.
For me, losing the evening light marks the end of runs in the fields away from the glare of the streetlights and the noise of traffic, and the end of the kids playing out on the street after tea. In some sense it feels like the start of a less sociable winter “hibernation” period. This melancholic time, in which the early darkness is brought on abruptly, has even been
The argument in favour of our autumnal reversion to Greenwich Mean Time is largely based on its effect on mornings. It ensures that most people who work nine to five in the UK will arrive at work in daylight. For example, even up in Edinburgh have been shown to disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms in some peopleSo it seems that this annual switching may be a suboptimal strategy, as the statistics suggest that the changing of the clocks has a demonstrable impact on our health.
But there is evidence to show BST can have a positive impact on our health as well. When it is lighter in the evenings, studies suggest we spendtaking exercise or on other recreational activities, and less time engaged in sedentary indoor activities such as watching TV. An early BST proponent, Winston Churchill, opined that it enlarges “the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country”.