Clocking Off

by Esmerelda Weatherwax (April 2011)

I want to make the case for the British Isles to stay on Greenwich Mean Time, which is the natural rhythm of these islands, all year.

U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics database and the University of Michigan showing that in the mining industry from 1983-2006 there was 5.7 per cent more workplace injuries and 67.6 per cent more workdays missed due to injuries in the days following the change to British Summer Time but that there was no increase in accidents when the clocks go back and people get an extra hour's sleep.

And the reason he gives for it being a good idea is exactly why it is a very bad idea. Sleep.

If someone has to rise at 6am for the commute to work then to get something approaching 8 hours sleep they need to be heading towards the bedroom by 10pm-ish. Even if they then spend some time reading, praying or discussing the condition of the ceiling with their spouse.

here “It is important for people to realise there is more to obesity than just stuffing your face”.

Anecdotally I know many people who do not sleep so well in the summer. They have difficulty getting to sleep until after dark. Once asleep the dawn does not always have the effect of waking them up early. It does some, but as in winter there is nothing that can be done to change the amount of daylight.

Portugal, a country also on the westernmost edge of Europe, through which the Greenwich meridian runs also tried the Central European Time experiment a few years ago and like the UK in 1971 abandoned it. The only English language version of comments about the experiment made by Rui Agostinho, director of the Lisbon Astronomical Observatory, who sat on the Portuguese Government commission which decided to abandon the scheme are here in the Daily Mail.

I submit that many of the health problems associated with the early part of the 21st century in the UK are associated with lack of sleep and a policy of artificially extended lighter evenings will result in even greater sleep deprivation, which will worsen not improve our health.

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Esmerelda Weatherwax is a regular contributor to the Iconoclast, our community blog. To view her entries please click here.