As every year, the passage at summer time will advance clocks. But contrary to what the usual catchphrase dictates, you are absolutely not forced to lose an hour of sleep at night.

As every year, the passage at summer time will advance clocks. But contrary to what the usual catchphrase dictates, you are absolutely not forced to lose an hour of sleep at night.

Like every year at the same period, a subject returns to the media and discussions, sometimes animating heated debates: the transition to summer time. And, beyond the questions about his real interest, we always hear the same unbearable catchphrase: ‘we are going to lose an hour of sleep. “Ben no, not necessarily.

This year, the transition to summer time will be done on the night of Saturday March 29 to Sunday March 30. More specifically, on March 30, at 2 a.m., we will go directly to 3 a.m. An hour will disappear, purely and simply. In practice, if your life is fully guided by clocks, if you go to bed and you get up every day at the same times – for professional reasons, for example -, then yes, your alarm will sound earlier and you will indeed lose an hour of sleep. But who really does that? Because the reality is fortunately more nuanced and more flexible.

Admittedly, when going to summer time, the Sunday day is really shorter than a normal day: it lasts 23 hours instead of 24. And you will feel a gap for a few days, time to get used to new schedules and solar pace. But apart from a few special cases, nothing forces you to deprive yourself of an hour of sleep in the night from Saturday to Sunday. And there are several solutions to keep control of your time.

So, if you absolutely hold your 7 or 8 hours of daily sleep, you can go to bed an hour earlier or wake up an hour later – a fat morning on Sunday is not ashamed. And if your night seems too short to you, you can also take a nap in the afternoon to recover.

But, above all, if you are not a slave of the clocks, you can decide to remove this hour anytime in the day of Sunday: even if your phone displays the official time, you are free to ignore it and to move forward by an hour, when that suits you, at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. or 7 p.m., depending on your activities and your desires. This is the best way not to undergo this imposed change and to absorb the gap it causes.

Obviously, the same goes in the other direction, in the fall, for the switch to winter time, which will take place this year on the night of Saturday October 25 to Sunday October 26. This time, the day will be 25 hours instead of 24. And nothing will force you to sleep during the time “won” at night. Again, you can take advantage of it as you wish, to watch longer on Saturday evening or practice your favorite activity more on Sunday, by rehashing on the official schedules at the time you have chosen. Stay in control of your time and, above all, forget this eternal and annoying “sleep hour” lost or won!