We have entered the second half of 2024. In a few weeks, we will switch to winter time, but on what date exactly?
Twice a year, the topic of time change is on everyone’s lips. Are we soon switching to winter time? Which weekend in 2024? For the record, it’s in 1975 that the president Valery Giscard d’Estaing has decided that the watches would be one hour forward in winter on Greenwich Mean Time. Worldwide, a sixty countries apply seasonal schedule changes. Several countries have abandoned him like Tunisia, Egypt, Russia, Ukraine, IcelandArmenia… This measure, which was highly contested, was due to end in France but it continues to apply.
When do we switch to winter time in 2024?
As every year, the time changes occur on the last weekend of March for the transition to summer time and on the last weekend of October for the transition to winter time. The transition to winter time will therefore take place on the night of Saturday 26 to Sunday October 27, 2024. At 3 a.m., it will therefore be 2 a.m.
Will we go forward or back one hour?
That’s always the big question. When we switch to summer time, we have to move the hands forward of our one-hour watch (one full rotation as in the clock image below). When switching to standard time, we move the clock back one hour. More precisely, daylight saving time adds one hour to the time zone while standard time removes one hour. Here’s a mnemonic to remember this:
► The switch to winter time takes place in October.D, on Dso it’s one hour later so at 2am it will be 1am.
► The switch to summer time takes place around the month ofAVlaugh, we AVso one hour so at 2am it will be 3am (so we lose an hour of sleep)
Will this be the last time change?
The time change has become common to the majority of the Member States of the European Union since 1998 but the system is increasingly criticizedAt the request of the European Parliament, the European Commission organised during thesummer 2018, an online consultation. Among the 4.6 million Europeans who participated, 84% were against the time changeHowever, and in particular because of the health crisis, the text on the end of the time change is no longer on the agenda.
Since when has there been a time change in France?
The time change is a measure that was introduced for the first time in France in 1916, after Germany and the United Kingdom, in order to save energy resources such as coal. It was abandoned from 1945 to 1975then was put back in place 1976, after the oil shock of 1973 in the face of soaring oil prices. This wassave electricity produced at the time mainly by fuel oil, thanks to one more hour of natural sunlight in the evenings. In 1975, the president Valery Giscard d’Estaing decides that the clocks will be put forward one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in winter and two hours ahead in summer in order to reduce electricity use for lighting. The decree of September 19, 1975 made the time change official in metropolitan France. Overseas, the time change does not apply except in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. Since 1998THE Time change dates have been harmonised within the European UnionIn all member countries, the change to winter time takes place on the last Sunday in October and the change to summer time on the last Sunday in March.
Some of us are particularly sensitive to changes in sleep patterns. To adapt smoothly, we should try to:‘anticipate time change by gradually shifting key moments of the day such as meals, bedtime, nap time or bath time for children…
► For winter time: We delay meals and bedtime by a quarter of an hour 4 days before the change to winter time. We do not hesitate to use a dawn simulator to make waking up easier.
► For summer time: Meals and bedtime are moved forward by a quarter of an hour 4 days before the switch to summer time. For example, on the first day, we eat at 12:30 p.m., on the second day at 12:15 p.m., on the third day at 12 p.m. and on the fourth day at 11:45 a.m. We close our shutters well so as not to be too disturbed by the daylight.
“When we switch to winter time, we perceive the night earlier, our melatonin will be secreted earlier and we will want to sleep earlier in the evening, explains Dr. Catherine Lamblin, sleep physician. In 2-3 days, the body normally begins to get used to the new time.” In the days following the time change, “it is better listen to our body and go to bed when we feel tiredeven if it is not always easy with professional or family constraints” advises sleep physician Dr. Catherine Lamblin. The change to daylight saving time is easier on the body. A time change can disrupt the functioning of hormones and it takes a few days to get used to it.
