To hate it when the clocks go forward!

You might be an "extreme" night owl, I think I am, if it gets extreme enough it's labelled a disorder called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder - but weirdly enough, there is no disorder for if you are an extreme lark!

My natural sleep-wake schedule under standard time is about 2am-10am and I can shift this well enough to be midnight-8am which is a reasonable time to sleep to fit in with the rest of society. But in summertime, the time my body wants to sleep is 3am-11am and it's much harder to shift it the extra hour. I get a bit of relief since I found the right medication for my ADHD and that makes it slightly easier and I'm not groggy until 10/11am any more, but I genuinely can't get up before 8am for any extended period without it starting to really affect my energy levels and making me feel run down. The only way I can describe it is that 8am for me is like 6am feels for a lot of people. Not freakishly early and some people are happy to get up at that time, but having to get up any earlier throws off the whole day.

It doesn't help that there's a weird narrative that if your sleep cycles are naturally aligned later that means you are "lazy" - I don't want to sleep more than anyone else, I just want to do it at a different time!

Even DH doesn't really get it and insists that if I just got up earlier for a few weeks I would get used to it, but I have done this many times over the course of my life for various reasons (DC, school, jobs etc) and I have never got used to it and always revert to the same 2am-10am pattern if I have the chance. I understand what he's getting at because I think there is an aspect of routine and habit, and everyone has a natural range they can shift their sleep pattern between, it's just I think this range probably exists on a bell curve with most people having a range overlapping with a "normal" wake up time of between 6am-8am. I think I'm lucky in that I can shift mine to the end of this window, but I do much prefer the schedule of winter time to summer time. Sometimes I seem to settle into it and not notice and some years it seems to put me out of sync for the whole 6 months.

I have often wondered what it would be like to live in Spain as their time is effectively shifted an hour ahead due to following Central European Time but they are so far west their sunrise/sunset happens at a similar physical time to the UK.

Imagine if you moved to Spain!

I hate it. I am a lark and hate the dark mornings.

I live in a different country and our clocks went forward a couple of weeks before yours. It was still pitch black at 7am which just feels completely wrong. It's changed a little now so that at 7am the sky is just starting to get light but it's still pretty dark.

Sunrise is only about ten minutes earlier here, and it's fine.

I much prefer the light in the evenings. Getting up and ready for work in the dark is kind of cosy, then it gets light whilst you're on the way (or soon after - I used to start at 7am). Cosy walking to work in a big coat as the dawn starts at the edges of the sky. Watching the world wake up.

Walking home in the dark was just crap because there's no light on the horizon. I also find it messes with my body clock as you need to stay awake for quite a while after sunset.

Perhaps we'd all be happier near the equator where the day length stays the same all year! (Except the summer haters who wouldn't cope with the heat!)

Far southwest. Still pitch black at six, sunrise about 6.45.

What time do you get up? It’s light here at 6.30. Dawn is at 6am.

'There is no time like Spring,
When life's alive in everything'

How can you possibly hate spring? Lighter evenings, warmer (but not boiling) weather, colour and new life everywhere - birds singing, daffodils, blossom, bluebells, lambs gambolling in the fields...

For me it's the happiest time of year by far, and I genuinely have no idea why anyone could 'avidly' hate it, less they're some sort of utterly miserable sod.

I always feel out of sorts for a couple of days, but it passes.

I just wish they would leave it on BST - I hate darker nights and mornings for so long.

The mornings had got nice and light and the evenings were stretching out on their own. Now the mornings are dark again. I feel I have jetlag for a few weeks. Bloody ridiculous we still do this (I know other countries do it too).

I prefer it! It's more interesting somehow. I like the times of the year when I can see sunrise or sunset from the train.

And it just feels nicer. It is horrible leaving work at 6pm and it is already dark. It feels like the day is already over.

Walking home after dark in well lit streets is one thing. Our country roads don't have street lights once you leave the village, so walking in daylight is more preferable, and safer.

I love my walks home from work when it’s pitch black. It’s calming. Daylight feels chaotic.

Do you find it the same whether the clocks are going back or forwards, @Bertiebiscuit, or are both equally difficult for you? I honestly didn't know that it affected some people so badly - you have my sympathy.

Affects the body clock, can easily take a week to get accustomed to the change for lots of people. Really annoying that so many just tell us to ignore it. Ditto jetlag. Just because something doesn't bother you, don't lecture those of us unfortunates who are suffering. It's a real thing

Yes, I'd still prefer that. Means fewer evenings where it's light past 8 and nothing later than 9.30. And no hassle, however minor, of changing the clocks at all. I have no idea why they experimented with BST year round for a while but never tried GMT year round.

The people who prefer GMT do realise it still wouldn’t make much difference in high summer - it still wouldn’t be dark at 4.30 pm - just more likely 9.30 instead of 10.30

Sunset is still before 7.30 now. I don't take much notice of what actual time it is dark enough to close the curtains so I could easily not notice if I didn't have dog and DC working to a slightly different schedule for a day and clocks in the cars that don't automatically update.

But that’s been happening for a few weeks as we move into spring/ summer. Maximum change occurs around the equinox so day length has been changing reasonably quickly anyway,

Did you really not notice that it was lighter for longer in the evening yesterday?

Someone at work hadn’t realised either, first she knew was when I mentioned it this afternoon. She said because all her clocks change automatically it just passed her by.

How does it cause accidents and health issues?

Makes me more tired losing an hour, for a few days. I love the lighter evenings, though.

Nope. Literally didn’t have a clue.

You're pulling my leg, aren't you?