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AIBU?

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Original poster

Who actually benefits from changing the clocks?

593 replies

shockwaze · 31/10/2023 06:13

Kids up at 5:30. Pretty sure that the same thing has happened in many, many houses this morning.

It's just an hour, but so disruptive to children.

Who benefits? Winds me up every year.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
IcedPurple · 31/10/2023 08:19

grottyb · 31/10/2023 08:16

Isn’t it better for health/circadian rhythm to experience light at the beginning of the day?

Yes. Sleep experts recommend exposure to light as early as possible in the morning.

MassageForLife · 31/10/2023 08:19

TheGrimSqueakersFlea · 31/10/2023 08:17

Could you explain that please?

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The border isn't a straight east-west line.

Tryingtryingandtrying · 31/10/2023 08:19

@willyoujustbequiet Do you actually want 2.30am first light in the middle of summer? Sunrise at 3.20am?

DrBlackbird · 31/10/2023 08:20

grottyb · 31/10/2023 08:16

Isn’t it better for health/circadian rhythm to experience light at the beginning of the day?

“Current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety.”

The statement was endorsed by more than 20 medical, scientific, and civic organizations, including the American College of CHEST Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National PTA, National Safety Council, Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, and World Sleep Society.

HerMammy · 31/10/2023 08:21

North of England and Scotland benefit from it otherwise we would be getting barely any daylight.
We're not in the artic, it's been light since 7am and didn't get dark until 5 yesterday, 10 hrs of daylight.

TheGrimSqueakersFlea · 31/10/2023 08:21

@MassageForLife Thank you. My brain nearly exploded trying to figure that out

Emeraldsanddiamonds · 31/10/2023 08:21

I'm in New Zealand. We have one of the highest skin cancer death rates in the world and every year there are warnings about sunburns. The last thing we need is more sun. But we have daylight saving all the same. I blame my very expensively excised skin cancers on the touching Anglo Saxon belief that sunlight is healthy even for very pale Celts - you know the ones who have been genetically selected for their ability to thrive in low sunlight. Still lots of Anglo Saxon died too in the process of getting "a good tan". When I was a child we were herded out like sacrificial lemmings to watch various sporting events completely without shade or sunscreen. These days I just readjust to real time and after 5pm real time I consider myself safe from sun damage

Mimikyuu · 31/10/2023 08:22

My child free colleagues seemed to benefit from it quite well! We were all hungry for lunch at 11 though 🥲

Passepartoute · 31/10/2023 08:22

Pooooochi · 31/10/2023 08:01

Please explain what exactly you think prevents a farmer from getting up at 5.30 in summer and 6.30 in winter, if they feel those are the best working hours for their farm.

Farm land tends to be in rural locations where there is next to no lighting whatsoever. No street lighting and no access to mains electricity to run any.

Imagine trying to check your crop for a deadly fungus in pitch black, or repair fences.

The point is to align the timing of the (limited) hours of light we have in mid winter, with the working day

How does any of that prevent farmers from starting work an hour later in winter?

For most people, farmers included, the working day is still happening at 4 pm when it gets dark in winter.

Mikimoto · 31/10/2023 08:22

Pooooochi · 31/10/2023 08:09

Spain a couple of weeks ago, which is geographically in the wrong time zone. It should be on the same as the UK, Portugal and Ireland but aligns with France and Germany etc. It was a bit weird that it was still dark while 8.30 am, but the big advantage was that it was light in the evening until about 8 pm, so much better for being out and about then, when more people have time to do so.

Spain is a much hotter country than the uk. This means they have a cultural practice of sleeping during the mid afternoon when its too hot to go, and staying up later in the cooler evenings. Its also further south, so they don't have the very short winter days we have in the north of the uk.

This pattern does not make sense in the uk where its cooler and we need to make use of the daytime weather.

Spain did used to follow UK time way back when, but Franco put them on German time in recognition of the Nazi regime.
Major talks are being held now for it to go back an hour, to be in line with the Canaries, Portugal and Moroccan summertime, among other things.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 31/10/2023 08:22

ShatteredPeace · 31/10/2023 08:08

Edinburgh is 100% not south west of Bristol. It is north west of Bristol.

Yes I was a bit sleepy still when I wrote that Grin I knew what I meant ;)

Spendonsend · 31/10/2023 08:23

I like the summer evenings. I think winter is gmt so id want gmt +1 if we only had one time.

Zanatdy · 31/10/2023 08:24

BarbaraofSeville · 31/10/2023 07:59

But they must be walking home in the dark, seeing as it's dark by 4 pm in Leeds, so will be dark earlier in Inverness, for example.

I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago, which is geographically in the wrong time zone. It should be on the same as the UK, Portugal and Ireland but aligns with France and Germany etc. It was a bit weird that it was still dark while 8.30 am, but the big advantage was that it was light in the evening until about 8 pm, so much better for being out and about then, when more people have time to do so.

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Spain changes their clocks too. They are in a different place to us obviously and that’s why it was light so late but that will change when they move their clocks too.

LuckySantangelo35 · 31/10/2023 08:24

OP it’s a couple nights disruption.

get over it.

hth

@shockwaze

ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming · 31/10/2023 08:25

Every time the clocks change, there is a significant increase in traffic accidents and measurable reduction in productivity because people are late/early for work. There really isn't a good reason to keep it that is worth all the disruption.

I don't live in the UK but I keep reading this. I've never heard anything about there being more traffic accidents, not that I'm saying there aren't, however in my whole life I have never encountered anyone who has been late/early to work because the clocks have changed. It happens every year, it really isn't that difficult to get to grips with it Confused

ShatteredPeace · 31/10/2023 08:25

@MassageForLife Edinburgh is definitely further west than Bristol. It's just that the map is tilted.

Who actually benefits from changing the clocks?
enchantedsquirrelwood · 31/10/2023 08:26

There were talks to stick to one time before covid, the EU was planning to stop clock changes. I think member states were going to choose their equivalent of GMT or BST but would then stick to it.

It's also not just a north/south thing as others have pointed out - I notice a difference between where my mum lives in Devon and where I live in the south east. It stays darker in the mornings where she is, but she gets about 25 minutes more daylight in the evenings.

OhwhyOY · 31/10/2023 08:27

The clocks changing drives me mad. We have the same number of hours of daylight anyway, it's just whether we have it in the morning or evening. I'd vote to get rid of clock changes and just either get up earlier to stay up later to get more light. The clock change has always disrupted my sleep and now it's the same for my 2 y.o.

Willyoujustbequiet · 31/10/2023 08:27

Tryingtryingandtrying · 31/10/2023 08:19

@willyoujustbequiet Do you actually want 2.30am first light in the middle of summer? Sunrise at 3.20am?

You're getting mixed up. I haven't said anything about British Summer Time.

My issue is with those who don't want GMT back in October.

It would be dark here until after 9.30am if there was no change and I'm not in Scotland.

It's far safer for sleepy kids to have lighter mornings and this was proven by the trial.

BitofaStramash · 31/10/2023 08:27

@Mylobsterteapot

Edinburgh is not west of Bristol…

Oh but it is

The longitude – which is used to determine the east-west position of a point on Earth - of Edinburgh is 3.18 degrees, while Bristol’s is 2.58 degrees.

Viviennemary · 31/10/2023 08:28

It's lighter in the mornings. I'd prefer to stay on this all year. Then we would have lighter evenings in the summer

DrBlackbird · 31/10/2023 08:29

IcedPurple · 31/10/2023 08:19

Yes. Sleep experts recommend exposure to light as early as possible in the morning.

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Being curious about OPs gripe, I looked up the research. What I’ve found is this “daylight saving time is less aligned with human circadian biology”.

This journal article agrees that exposure to light in the morning is good, but they’re saying that switching to daylight savings/summer time works against this. The journal article cites many studies on negative outcomes of switching the clocks. Their position is that more people benefit from not switching but recommend keeping to GMT.

mydogisthebest · 31/10/2023 08:30

Tryingtryingandtrying · 31/10/2023 08:19

@willyoujustbequiet Do you actually want 2.30am first light in the middle of summer? Sunrise at 3.20am?

Wouldn't bother me.

I spent a summer in Sweden and absolutely loved that it never got dark. I could definitely live with that.

I hate the dark so much.

BitofaStramash · 31/10/2023 08:31

shockwaze · 31/10/2023 07:56

Oh @saffy2

Hardly nonsensical, I'm yet to be convinced it helps anyone. No one here has the answer.

I'm posting between bathing my two cherubs as well. I do apologise.

Are you just ignoring all the Scots in the thread then?

IcedupTulip · 31/10/2023 08:33

shockwaze · 31/10/2023 06:18

Well, fuck fhem.

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You’ll be the one fucked without them!!!!!!!

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