Does it feel like you are going to work and coming home without seeing any daylight? We know that the reduction in daylight makes us all a tad depressed, but could we solve this by not changing our clocks each autumn?
Not putting the clocks back in October and still putting them forward in the spring would be a simple and effective way to vastly improve our health and well-being, said an expert in last week’s BMJ.
Mayer Hillman, Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Policy Studies Institute, argues that the effect of doing so would be to increase the number of ‘accessible’ daylight hours and thus encourage more outdoor activity throughout the year.
Research shows that people feel happier, more energetic and have lower sickness rates in the longer and brighter days of summer, whereas their mood tends to decline during the shorter and duller days of winter. Two studies published by the Policy Studies Institute also point to a wide range of advantages of the clock change proposal.
Hillman went on to say how surprising it is that there has been a consistent oversight of the role that increasing the number of ‘accessible’ daylight hours in this way could play in the promotion of physical health and well-being. Taking account of the typical daily patterns of adults and children, the clock change ‘would considerably increase opportunities for outdoor leisure activities – about 300 additional hours of daylight for adults each year and 200 more for children.’
Hillman says there is considerable public support for this action.
Tell us what you think
Should we go along with the clock changes or demand a review?