Scientists issue Daylight Savings warning over clocks changing ‘damaging’ health

Scientists have warned that Daylight Savings Time (DST) could damage our health and have urged the government to stick to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

The clocks are due to return this weekend, but the British Sleep Society (BSS) has suggested that the time change interrupts our natural sleep cycles.

BSS, a professional body for medical, scientific and health workers, said there was clear evidence that natural morning daylight benefits people’s sleep patterns.

Putting the clocks back disrupts this and has a negative impact.

The society has issued a strongly worded statement saying it “strongly recommends” keeping Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)—when clocks go back—on all year round.

The experts believe our circadian rhythms – the physical, mental, and behavioural changes we experience across the day – are disrupted by the clocks going forward in Spring.

The clocks are going back at 2am on Sunday, October 27. Brits get an extra hour in bed every year on the last Sunday of October.

The clocks go forward an hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March every year too.

The period when the clocks go forward is called British Summer Time (BST) and sometimes called Daylight Saving Time.

When the clocks go back in October, the UK will be on GMT. The Government has no plans to change the system.

One of the statement’s authors, Professor Malcolm von Schantz of Northumbria University, said that GMT “aligns closely with the natural light-dark cycles of the day and night”.

He added that “natural daylight in the morning is crucial for maintaining an optimal alignment of our body clocks with day and night, which is essential for optimal sleep and overall health.”

He added: “Restoring permanent Standard Time (GMT) would mean our clocks would be closely aligned to solar time, and while it would mean earlier sunsets in the summer, there would be additional benefits to health from improved sleep and circadian alignment due to increased exposure to morning sunlight from autumn to spring.”

Another of the authors, Dr Eva Winnebeck, said: “What we often don’t realise is that Daylight Saving Time (BST) changes our schedules, moving them forward by one hour while daylight remains the same.

“It forces us all to get up and go to work or school one hour earlier. In seasons with fewer daylight hours such as now in autumn, it means most of us have to get up and commute in the dark.”