It’s already September. In the Northern Hemisphere, that means that autumn is just around the corner, even if the temperatures don’t show it. And that sooner or later, we’ll have an extra hour of sleep to give way to winter time. In Spain next Sunday October 27at 3am it will be 2am again on the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, and at 2am on the Canary Islands.
The truth is that this story seems endless. Several years have passed since European Union They talked about the intention to get out of the fixed schedule. It is not yet clear whether they will switch to winter or summer time, although scientists are clear which will be better.
Anyway, in Spain we still have a couple of years of time change. And as you can read in the Bank of England, the start dates of winter and summer time have already been agreed. for 2025 and 2026At that point, you may finally establish a stable schedule. Or you may not. At this point, we only have uncertainty in this regard.
Winter or summer time?
Winter time usually always starts at the end of October, when the clocks go back an hour early in the morning. This makes the days seem much shorter because dawn comes earlier and we do some of our daily activities in the dark. Instead, daylight saving time begins. at the end of Marchwhen the clocks go forward one hour early in the morning. As a result, we almost always get up in the afternoon, and if we go to bed early, then also in the afternoon. Given that we in Spain do not tend to go to bed early, we end up going to bed much later, since it is daytime, we tend to put off certain things, such as dinner.
That’s why scientists sleep experts They think it would be better to leave winter time. Our brains are better able to adapt to this time change because we wake up and go to bed in dim light. Since the circadian rhythms that govern sleep are determined by the amount light and darknessthe best situation in which we can feel rested is this situation. On the other hand, in summer, putting off all our affairs due to the increase in daylight hours, we go to bed later and are more tired the next day. Moreover, in the first days we feel that we are constantly missing a single hour.
People who usually have no problems with sleep need about 5 days to adapt to summer time. However, those who are prone to insomnia may need much more time. On the other hand, you will hardly need to adapt to winter time, because everything is more natural for our body.
When will this be fixed?
In fact, changing the time is more of a social thing than a scientific one. It is true that it was implemented with the aim of saving energy. However, it has been noted that increasing the length of the working day, in which the lights are not on for so long, does not lead to significant energy savings.
For a long time it was something completely heterogeneous. In the US, for example, each state had its own. Over time, it became homogenized, although there are still some exceptions today. There are even regions where time does not change. These are Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana and Virgin Islands, as well as the states of Hawaii and Arizona.
IN SpainDuring the Civil War, each side of the front had its own schedule. One on the side of the coup, one on the side of the Republicans. Later, the dictator Francisco Franco introduced German time. For this reason, almost all Spanish time is now Central European Time or CET instead of Western European Time, which would correspond to ours. This represents an advance of about 60 minutes relative to the sun in winter and two hours in summer. discrepancies They are very clear, especially in western areas such as Galicia, where daylight starts at 10pm in summer and the sun doesn’t rise until 9am in winter.
The current changes are governed by European directives. So if the bloc finally decides to keep the fixed schedule, Spain will join in. Will it be winter or summer? If scientists are to be listened to, the former may remain unchanged. In any case, nothing will change until 2026. Don’t forget to change your watch when the time comes.
Source: Hiper Textual
