At 2 o’clock in the morning, it will be 3 o’clock. The time change is highly contested for its effect on biological rhythms, in particular by doctors or parents of school-age children.
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It’s a habit that doesn’t appeal to everyone. Hexagonal France goes on the night of Saturday to Sunday March 27 at summer time. At 2 a.m., the clocks will advance 60 minutes: it will therefore be 3 a.m. and we will sleep “one hour less“, as long as you get up at the same time as usual. On the other hand, you will gain an hour of light at the end of the day.
The time change is highly contested for its effect on biological rhythms, in particular by doctors or parents of school-age children. Already used in the first half of the 20th century, the time change was reintroduced in France in 1976, in the wake of the oil shocks. It was then justified by energy savings. However, their importance is highly debated. Ademe had estimated, in 2014, that they were “real but modest”.
The system was harmonized at European level in 1980. But it has been increasingly contested and the European Commission proposed, in 2018, to abolish it from 2019. Finally, the European Parliament voted a postponement to 2021, to be discussed with the Council of the EU. But the file is still in limbo, the States not agreeing and the Covid-19 crisis having been there.
In France, an online consultation organized in 2019 by the National Assembly had received more than two million responses, overwhelmingly (83.74%) in favor of the end of the time change. As for the time to stay all year round, it was the summer time (in France UTC +2) which was preferred by 59% of the participants.