Tonight it’s that time again: The clocks are turned back one hour. An annoying topic for most Germans. They would like to abolish the time change. Corresponding EU plans already existed. But what has become of them?
This Sunday night the clocks are turned again: At three in the morning the clocks are put back by one hour from summer time to Central European Time (CET), also known as winter time. Then it is lighter earlier in the morning and rather dark in the afternoon. But many people have had enough of the back and forth and advocate an end to the time change.
The fact that Sunday is an hour longer due to the time change shouldn’t bother most people. However, the changeover to daylight saving time in spring and to standard time in autumn is unpopular, as surveys regularly show. In a recent survey by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, 77 percent supported the abolition of the time change. According to their own statements, 32 percent of those surveyed had health or psychological problems after the time change – according to the health insurance company, this is the highest level in the past ten years.
In addition to health problems, critics of the time change point to the fact that it does not fulfill its original purpose. In fact, putting the clock forward in the spring should help save energy during the lighter months of the year. The reasoning: if the day shifts forward by one hour, less lighting is used and therefore less electricity is consumed. According to analyses, however, energy-saving effects are hardly detectable.
Within the EU, there has been concrete discussion about abolishing the time change since summer 2018 at the latest. At that time, 84 percent of the participants in an EU-wide online survey spoke out against the regular time change, with the participation in Germany being particularly high. However, it is not yet clear when the EU will implement such plans.
The necessary coordination among the member states is still a long time coming. According to the EU Commission, the ball is initially in the court of the member states. However, the 27 countries are arguing about how the elimination of the time change should be implemented. And without agreement, the whole project can even fail. In the course of the ongoing debates, it also became clear, among other things, that some EU countries – such as Portugal – are basically towards the end of the time change.
In the debate, the German Society for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine advocates maintaining normal time – i.e. winter time. Daylight and in turn in particular the blue component of sunlight is the “main timer” for the so-called inner clock of humans and decisive for the wake-sleep rhythm. According to the experts, all this is best ensured by the winter period.
By switching to summer time, however, there is a risk of a lack of sleep, which leads to loss of concentration and performance as well as more accidents. The German Teachers’ Association also fears health risks for students in the event of a permanent switch to summer time.
From a purely technical point of view, the time change is unproblematic. The atomic clocks of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig are the clocks that keep time in Germany. The signals are transmitted via transmitters, through which the radio clocks automatically adapt to the time change. The time change has also long been routine for Deutsche Bahn.