Many people suffer from the transition from standard (winter) time to daylight saving time (a.k.a. summer time in Europe). If we elect to give up on changing the time twice a year altogether, what time should we use permanently? Standard (winter) time or DST (summer time)?

We set our clock one hour forward for daylight saving time / summer time and move it backward to revert back to standard time - Image Credit - PeterHermesFurian via iStock/Getty Images - Edited by Universal-Sci

Every spring and autumn, many of us move our clocks forward or back an hour to accommodate for daylight saving time (called summer time in Europe) or vice versa. According to research, approximately 25% of people suffer from this transition. After daylight saving time begins, they experience trouble falling asleep on time, meaning that they start developing a sleep deficit. For many, readjusting from a 1-hour shift in their sleep schedule takes about four weeks, while some even suffer from it all summer long.

One of the driving reasons behind daylight saving time (DST) is energy consumption. By reducing the need for lighting and heating, the aim is to save on electricity. However, the actual effect on overall energy use is heavily disputed by scientists, especially in modern times, where most of us use energy-efficient L.E.D. lights in our homes.

Our internal circadian clock

According to dr. M.C.M. Marijke Gordijn, a specialist in chronobiology at the University of Groningen, scientists agree that DST disrupts our circadian clocks. We all have an internal clock in our brain situated in the so-called suprachiasmatic nucleus, an area with approximately twenty thousand neurons that tells our body what time it is. In a 24 hour cycle, it regulates all kinds of processes in our body, such as body temperature, reaction speed, blood pressure, and hormone concentration. Utilizing these processes, it ensures that we perform optimally at certain moments and sleep optimally at other moments during the 24 hour day.

There is one problem with this process though, our internal circadian clock does not take exactly 24 hours to complete a single cycle. Fortunately, nature has a solution for that, namely light. Light helps you wake up again in the morning as it falls on your retina and ends up in your brain. It pushes your internal clock to wake up earlier at times where natural daylight is available at earlier hours. The aforementioned twenty thousand cells of your suprachiasmatic nucleus get shaken up and get to work.

Daylight plays a vital role in adjusting our internal clock - Image Credit: Memorystockphoto via iStock/Getty Images - HDR tune by Universal-Sci

What does this all have to do with daylight saving time and standard time?

If we choose to permanently use daylight saving time from now on, it would mean that we forever have to get up an hour earlier in the morning. During the summer, most of us will manage to do so after some time because natural sunlight is available during the early morning. But in the middle of winter, natural light only starts to come in at around 9 am / 10 am in many densely populated areas in Europe like the Netherlands and Germany. In that situation, your internal clock cannot readjust itself.

An additional disadvantage of DST and summer time is that it stays light until later in the evening during the summer period, meaning that our circadian clock starts preparing us for sleep at a later moment. Consequently, most of us will get tired at a later point in the evening and fall asleep at a later hour, but as our alarm clock goes off early in the morning, regardless, we get less sleep.

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Should we abandon daylight saving time?

According to Gordijn, sleep deprivation ensures that we are less alert in the short term, exposing us to an increased risk for accidents. When it comes to long-term effects, people who sleep less have a greater risk of conditions like cardiovascular disease and may even die at an earlier age.

All things considered, the severity of adverse effects that you might experience due to daylight saving time or summer time, of course, depends on where exactly you live. But as the power-saving effects of shifting our clock are highly disputed, and the negative health effects (for those that live in highly affected areas) are pretty clear, we should seriously consider abandoning DST altogether.

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