The British Sleep Society position statement on Daylight Saving Time in the UK

Crawford, Megan R. and Winnebeck, Eva C. and Schantz, Malcolm von and Gardani, Maria and Miller, Michelle A. and Revell, Victoria and Hare, Alanna and Horton, Caroline L. and Durrant, Simon and Steier, Joerg (2024) The British Sleep Society position statement on Daylight Saving Time in the UK. Journal of Sleep Research. ISSN 0962-1105 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14352)

[thumbnail of Crawford-etal-JSR-2024-The-British-Sleep-Society-position-statement-on-Daylight-Saving-Time] Text. Filename: Crawford-etal-JSR-2024-The-British-Sleep-Society-position-statement-on-Daylight-Saving-Time.docx
Accepted Author Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 January 2099.

Download (460kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate in the UK and in other countries about whether twice-yearly changes into and out of Daylight Saving Time (DST) should be abolished. Opinions are divided about whether any abolition of DST should result in permanent Standard Time, or year-long DST. The British Sleep Society (BSS) concludes from the available scientific evidence, that circadian and sleep health are affected negatively by enforced changes of clock time (especially in a forward direction) and positively by the availability of natural daylight during the morning. Thus, our recommendation is that the UK should abolish the twice-yearly clock change and reinstate Standard Time throughout the year.

ORCID iDs

Crawford, Megan R. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3167-1398, Winnebeck, Eva C., Schantz, Malcolm von, Gardani, Maria, Miller, Michelle A., Revell, Victoria, Hare, Alanna, Horton, Caroline L., Durrant, Simon and Steier, Joerg;