Biznes Fakty
Daylight saving time 2025: „It's a health-damaging relic”
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, we will shift from winter to summer time. At 2:00 a.m., clocks will move forward to 3:00 a.m., resulting in one less hour of sleep. – This is a detrimental remnant for our well-being – evaluated Professor Mariusz Siemiński from the Medical University of Gdańsk.
Across the European Union, daylight saving time begins on the last Sunday of March and reverts back to standard time on the last Sunday of October. The timeline for the initiation and conclusion of summer time, applicable to all Member States, is governed by a directive in effect since 2001.
In Poland, the time transition is managed by the Regulation of the Prime Minister concerning the implementation and cancellation of Central European Summer Time for the years 2022-2026.
Health Implications of Time Changes
– The community of sleep medicine experts has long indicated that the semiannual clock changes are an outdated practice that negatively impacts our health. It creates significant disruption to our circadian rhythm. Evolutionarily, the rhythm of our biological processes is dictated by sunlight. The spectrum and color of sunlight serve as biological elements exerting the strongest influence on our daily functioning rhythm. Our bodily functions, including the central nervous system’s activity and the functioning of other systems such as the circulatory and digestive systems, are reliant on it – stated Prof. Siemiński from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Medical University of Gdańsk.
He further explained that the circadian rhythm, which is influenced by sunlight, also impacts bodily functions at the cellular level. Variations in light exposure affect the way DNA segments are interpreted in our cells and dictate the types of enzymes that are produced.
Moreover, the switch to summer time, which requires us to rise earlier, often disrupts our sleep patterns. – During the latter part of the night, rapid eye movement sleep, known as the REM phase, is predominant, during which we dream. This phase is also characterized by heightened activity of the sympathetic nervous system. At this time, the heart rate increases, and blood pressure rises. Although we are asleep, our body operates at an accelerated pace. Coupled with the stress of waking up earlier, this leads to a noticeable trend of increased illnesses, such as heart attacks, during this period. While the increase is minor, it is consistently observed – emphasized Prof. Siemiński.
When Will the Clock Changes Cease?
In 2018, there was an opportunity to put an end to the biannual clock changes. The European Commission proposed eliminating the time changes. The European Parliament supported the proposal; however, it has since stalled within the EU Council. The last time the EU Council addressed the matter was in 2019. Since then, European capitals have not revisited the issue. The challenges arise from the need for consensus among countries on which time—summer or winter—they wish to adopt.
In December 2024, Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk announced that the topic of discontinuing the transition from summer to winter time was included in the agenda for Poland’s EU presidency. In March of this year, a spokesperson for the EC indicated that due to the ongoing deadlock in the EU Council, the European Commission had opted to retract its proposal to abolish the time change. Nevertheless, Minister Paszyk mentioned in a recent discussion with RMF FM that the conversation regarding halting the time change remains open and is being discussed with member states.
Currently, the EU has three standard time zones, with member states selecting their preferred zone. Western European Time is observed in Ireland and Portugal, Central European Time is utilized by 17 countries in this region, and Eastern European Time is applied in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, and Romania.
Daylight saving time, which involves advancing clocks by one hour during the spring and summer months, was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century. In Europe, the practice of changing clocks in spring and autumn was initially adopted to conserve energy during World War I and was reintroduced in numerous countries during the 1970s.
