This weekend, the French will switch to winter time 2022. The October time change will make them gain an hour of sleep but lose an hour of sunshine. And this transition to winter time 2022 is not without consequences for the body
Prepare your watches, the time change is imminent. This weekend, we will sleep an extra hour: when the hour hand reaches 3 a.m., it will actually be 2 a.m. again. While some people are already happy about this extra hour of sleep, the transition to winter time has an impact on our habits and influences our daily lives. With this one hour setback in the night from this Saturday to Sunday, we lose an hour of natural sunshine, which means for many French people, arriving at work at night and leaving there… at night.
Winter time therefore influences the morale of the French and this drop in motivation was explained by the psychologist Patricia Mozdzan on Classic Radio : “We lose an hour of sunshine and therefore the transition to winter time can promote seasonal depression associated with the lack of light. It would affect 15% of the population”. Negative effects can therefore be felt on our metabolism.
Time change reduces sleep time
According to one study from 2012 by academic Yvonne Harrisson of the Liverpool School of Natural Sciences and Psychology (John Moores University), daylight saving time actually tends to reduce our sleep time in the long run. We gain an hour of sleep on the night of the autumn time change, but the study reveals that in the five days following this time change, our sleep pattern is disturbed, so we are more tired. According to this study, “increased sleep fragmentation and sleep latency have a cumulative effect of sleep loss, at least for the next week, if not longer.” “The fall transition is often presented as a gain of one hour of sleep, but there is little evidence of additional sleep that night”, writes the researcher, who indicates that “the cumulative effect of five Consecutive days of earlier wake times after the fall shift again suggest a net loss of sleep over the week.”
In addition to increased fatigue, the lack of visibility on the road is also a consequence of this change from summer time to winter time, with one hour less sunshine at the end of the day or even at the end of the afternoon. midday. In a Press release of Road Safety published this Wednesday, October 26, it is indicated that a peak in accident rates is observed each year after the weekend of the time change. It is important to remain vigilant, especially since ONISR data, collected between 2015 and 2019, warns of the number of accidents involving a pedestrian. These increased recurrently by +42% in November, compared to October. It is therefore strongly recommended to wear reflective clothing and to be extra vigilant on the road, both as a driver and a pedestrian.