The UK will bid farewell to British Summer Time this weekend as the clocks go back one hour at 2am on Sunday, October 25, returning the nation to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). While the change offers an extra hour in bed, it also brings earlier evening darkness.
The twice-annual clock change has been a fixture since 1916, but the question of whether to keep it continues to divide opinion. If abolished, the UK would use GMT year-round, completely dropping British Summer Time (BST).
British Sleep Society calls for permanent GMT
The British Sleep Society (BSS) has previously called for an end to the seasonal changes, arguing that natural daylight in the morning plays an important role in sleep and health. In a statement published in the Journal of Sleep Research, the society backed keeping GMT all year round, pointing to studies, mainly from the US, linking 1-hour-wide time zones with poorer sleep and health.
The statement read: “These detriments include less sleep, dysregulated circadian rhythms, higher cancer incidence, more fatal traffic accidents, increased rates of obesity, poorer cardiovascular health, increased rates of suicide, and shorter life expectancy.”
History of Daylight Saving in the UK
Daylight saving was first introduced in the UK during the First World War to reduce energy and increase war production. It is now used in over 70 countries worldwide, affecting over one billion people each year.
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, Benjamin Franklin first proposed the concept of daylight saving time in 1784. In 1907, Englishman William Willett launched a campaign to move clocks forward in spring and summer and set them back in autumn. His proposal was to advance clocks by 80 minutes through four separate increments of 20 minutes each.
In 1908, the House of Commons rejected a Bill to move clocks forward by one hour during spring and summer. Subsequently, in 1916, the Summer Time Act was passed, establishing that for a specified period during the year legal time should be one hour ahead of GMT. Double summer time (GMT + 2 hours) was implemented during the Second World War.
What happens this weekend
This Sunday at 2am, clocks will roll back by one hour to 1am. The time zone will remain in place until the end of March, with brighter mornings and earlier evenings. Scientists have also said restoring a permanent time would bring the UK more aligned to solar time.
