In the night from Saturday to Sunday, March 26, 2023, clocks will spring ahead one hour to daylight saving time at 2 a.m. Then it will be light one hour later in the morning and dark one hour later in the evening.

Humans have an internal clock by which they orient themselves. This internal clock is based on daylight and not on which numbers the hands of the clock point to, emphasizes the AOK health insurance provider. This internal clock also determines one’s sleep-wake rhythm: In the dark, melatonin is released, a hormone that makes you tired. In light, the release is inhibited because the body produces cortisol, which makes us awake.

A person's internal clock can become unbalanced when the clock is changed. Just one hour can upset the body and disrupt the usual rhythm of the day. This can cause health problems for some people. This is less the case with the winter time change, but mainly with the change to daylight saving time. If the body is still in night mode, but is now woken up an hour earlier, this can result in the cardiovascular system and metabolism not getting going.

Daylight saving time as we know it was introduced in Germany in 1980. The reasoning behind it was that it saves electricity in the summer. If it is light outside longer in the evening, less electricity is used for lighting. In reality, however, this is of no use: consumption balances out again in spring and fall, when more energy is needed for lighting and heating in the morning. So the time change is not helpful in the current energy crisis either.

The time change should have been abolished long ago and yet it remains with us. In 2018, the EU Commission surveyed citizens on the subject. The result of the online survey: 84 percent were in favor of ending the time change between summer and winter time. In Germany, approval is considered particularly high. The reasons given by the participants included the fact that the time change is detrimental to their health. In response, then-Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced in 2018: "The time change should be abolished." The EU Parliament voted in March 2019 to abolish it in 2021.

Since then, however, not much has happened. The ball is in the court of the 27 member states, according to the European Commission. They have to agree and clarify whether they want permanent summer or winter time. So far, the governments in the Council of the EU have not found a common position.

Germans have a clear opinion on the question of whether there should be permanent summer or winter time: According to a representative study by the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences and the market research institute mo'web research, the majority are calling for permanent daylight saving time. This would mean that it would remain dark longer in the morning and light longer in the evening.

Meteorologists and physicians argue in favor of year-round winter time. With permanent daylight saving time, they argue, it would be too light in the evening and too dark in the morning in winter. As a result, people would get tired later but still have to get up early in the morning. There would be a definite lack of sleep.

(Orig. text: Leandra Kubiak, with material from dpa; Translation: ck)