Forwards or backwards? One hour more or less sleep? Fun facts about the time change

In October, the clocks are set back one hour to winter time. And then one hour forward again in March. But why actually? Find out why "winter time" doesn't actually exist - and other fun facts about the time change.

Even though most people probably talk about summer and winter time: There is no such thing as winter time in connection with the time change. This is what the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (Metas) writes in a press release. There is only standard time and summer time. Standard time in Switzerland has been Central European Time for over 125 years.

There are various mnemonic devices to help you remember when the clocks go forward and when they go back. Here are three examples:

The time change is like the temperature: in summer it is positive and in winter it is negative. In other words, the clocks go forward (plus) in spring and back (minus) in fall.

In spring, the garden furniture goes outside, in fall back into the shed.

The 2-3-2 rule applies: first change from 2 to 3 o'clock in the spring, then from 3 to 2 o'clock in the fall.

No joke: researchers at the US University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that the time change has an impact on people's giving behavior. In the week following the time change, people in the USA donated around ten percent less. This decline was not observed in countries that do not have a time change, the researchers write.

How could it be otherwise? Once again, the disrupted biorhythm, which can lead to a lack of sleep, is to blame. However, this mainly occurs during the changeover from standard time to daylight saving time, when we lose an hour.

Yes, the time change can not only affect our mood, it can have far greater consequences. Our body has a mini jet lag, so to speak. Researchers in Munich have studied the effects of the time change from summer to standard time on 55,000 people. The biorhythm is disturbed far more than assumed.

One health concern, for example, is that many functions are linked to the biorhythm. For example, blood pressure, pulse rate and even body temperature are briefly affected by the time change.

Cows also have to get used to the new rhythm first. This is stressful for the animals and can actually lead to them producing less milk. Some farmers therefore slowly get their cows used to the future milking time in the week before the time change. The cows are milked a little earlier each day. Incidentally, this can also be tried when feeding pets.

On March 29, 1981 at 2 a.m., the Swiss had the pleasure of summer time for the first time. Before that, there was only standard time. For a while, Switzerland and Liechtenstein even formed their own time island, as all neighboring countries had already introduced the time change earlier. As a result, it sometimes happened that it was one hour later in the municipality of a border canton than in the neighboring municipality, which was no longer on Swiss territory.

However, our German neighbors were only one year earlier with the time change. One exception was the exclave of Büsingen on the High Rhine. As it is surrounded by Swiss territory, Büsingen only introduced the time change one year later together with Switzerland.

If anyone knows about the time change, it's the Canadians. After all, Canada holds the record for the most summer time periods. As early as 1908, the Canadian province of Ontario had a time change. As research by "timeanddate.de" shows, the first time change did not take place in Germany, but in Canada.

However, Germany was the first country in the world, together with Austria-Hungary, to introduce the time change across the board during the First World War in 1916. After the end of the war, the time change was abolished again. It was reintroduced during the Second World War in 1940, but temporarily disappeared again in 1950.

In Europe, the time change is a big deal. Almost all countries change the time on the same date. In the EU economic area, Iceland is the only country that has abolished the time change. Belarus and Russia have also done away with the time change.

On other continents, the rate is not as high as in Europe. Overall, not even half of all countries worldwide change their clocks. The majority no longer have a time change or have never had one, for example countries that are close to the equator. There, the time change makes no sense.

In Asia, many countries used to have the clock change in the past, but have now abandoned it. In Africa, the time change is only known in a few countries and has never been introduced in most of them.

The clocks do not go back one hour at the end of October in all countries that have introduced the time change. In Bermuda, for example, the clocks do not go back to standard time until a week later in November. In Canada and the USA, November 6 is also the date of the time change in many regions this year.

In Greenland, there are even different dates within the country. Some regions are already changing over on October 29 this year, while others will not do so until November 6.

Time madness in Morocco because of Ramadan

Changing the time twice a year was probably not enough for Moroccans. For several years, there were four time changes in Morocco. The reason for this was Ramadan. During Ramadan, devout Muslims must fast until sunset. With the switch to standard time, the sun set one hour earlier.

In 2018, for example, summer time began on March 25, but ended again on May 13. After the end of Ramadan, the clocks were set one hour forward to summer time again on June 17. Daylight saving time ended for the second time on October 28. The clocks went back one hour to standard time.

Morocco abolished the time change after 2018, but in some regions the clocks are still set back one hour during Ramadan.

The following applies to everyone: an hour is gained or lost with every time change. In the video, blue News asked Swiss people in spring 2022 what they thought of the time change. At the time, the US Senate made headlines by passing a law to abolish the time change.