To feel like this clock change has knocked me for six?!

@AInightingale

My children leave for the bus at 8.15am. It is still dark then. Shifting the clock makes a difference for about a fortnight. It's not worth it.

The discussion should be about whether we have BST all year round or GMT all year round. Not the current practice.

When the current practice was re-adopted in 1972, almost no shops opened beyond 5.30pm, many people were on shifts in factories or mines that started at 7am or earlier, almost no-one ever worked at home, and farming employed far more people than now. We had far less understanding about the impact of disturbed sleep patterns, and children almost always walked to school or got a bus (no SUVs or other cars just taking them 800 yards to and from school).

Never mind the increased deaths and injuries that will happen in November, the impact on health by the sudden change, on cats and dogs, and all the time spent in workplaces changing clocks be it physical or checking IT systems.

This affects me more than jetlag. I'm having to hang on until 1 for lunch

I remember as a child walking home in the dark frequently from school for 45 mins. Felt far less safe with less people around than when dark in the morning. Also a further walk as could take short cuts through woodland and had to stick to main roads for safety. So otherwise could do it in half an hour - after school netball training from age 11, school goes beyond 3.30 for sport & clubs.

This could be the only referendum I could get behind. I'd be in the sticking to BST camp. Hate the dark evenings. Gaining an hour daylight from 6 rather than 7 is pointless. Having to squeeze in walking the dog before dark all winter is deeply irritating. Should be a national vote on it.

Long gone are the days most children walked to school at 8.45am with their Mums!

I know where I am (NI) many older children leave the house to get buses at 7.45- 8.30; they certainly would be at much greater risk if they were walking around in the dark if BST was permanent. But I suspect there's an east/west divide over this.

I always feel a sense of relief when they go back. They need to stop with the BST.

I wish it would stop too.

And, yes, I live in Northern Scotland.

We leave the house in the dark in the morning anyway. I would far rather have a light afternoon til 4.30pm.

Long gone are the days most children walked to school at 8.45am with their Mums!

Daisydaisydaizee
I’ve kids and pets but because of midterm we were all up late so it worked out here!!

edited to add haven’t gotten 8 hours in years, more a healthy 6😅

I don't understand this extra hour thing. If your body is used to 8 hour sleep, you won't suddenly sleep 9 hours. Maybe for some people but not for all.
Also, when you have other responsibilities like kids, pets or a job, you cannot sleep that extra hour.

As I don't have young children these days, I love the October clock change as it means the mornings are lighter. However thanks to perimenopause/menopause I'm not sleeping very well at the moments (also I suspect due to the abnormally warm night time temps) so I haven't got the normal energy surge from the lighter mornings that I usually get.

I do feel for those with little ones though.

That's teenage boys for you 😂

I always thought that we go an hour back to GMT in winter otherwise kids would be travelling to school in the dark.

I love the clocks going back an hour. I mean, an extra hour in bed and it getting dark earlier is the dream! I really hate light evenings, messes with my body clock so bad and I spend all spring/summer an exhausted mess.

I feel so much better already!

When the clocks go forward I seem to get really bad jet lag.

When I was working I hated this time of year. Hated being in the office after dark, being able to see nothing through the windows but the office reflected back at me. Made me feel really trapped and anxious. So much better now I’m retired.

What I meant is we're now back to 'normal', ie GMT time. Which in Scotland and Ireland means brighter mornings in the winter, and dark around 4.30 pm in the depths of midwinter, stretching to 5.00 pm by end of January. What if the UK and Ireland stayed on GMT all year round rather than pushing the clocks on an hour in March? Wasn't it just a wartime innovation that became permanent?

I woke at 5.30. Partly thanks to the cat who is used to us getting up at 6.30 during term time. While I am still at work this week I didn't actually need to get up until 7. I was also up v early yesterday. Normally it's the kids that take time to adjust, but they've both strolled down just after 7 which is normal for them when not at school.

Not just you! I was gone on the sofa last night at 8pm 🤣

I slept like a log last night after two bad night sleeps.

Seconded! I hate it all too

Honestly, as someone in Scotland I'd rather they didn't do it. I'd much rather have the daylight in the evening. It's thrown me off entirely and I'm still wide awake.

Me too I hate when clocks go back. Just stick with BST.

I'm all over the shop because I've been on holiday with a time difference, back a few hours and now it's changed to another one 😂 Plus I've lost loads of daylight hours all of a sudden because it was getting dark at 8pm abroad!!