Change of time: clocks are back in winter

The good news is that we have the right to sleep an hour more this weekend, but it also means that it will be dark an hour earlier. Since Sunday, three or two hours apply again at the normal time. The EU has decided to eliminate the changeover to the euro, but EU members still have to vote, that it 's one summer. permanent or normal after 2019.

Farewell to the change of the hour: Europe must do the same thing

Three million of the 4.6 million German participants in an online survey of the EU decided in August to keep the summer time. That's more than 80% of respondents in Germany. This is not legally binding. The European Commission is considering how to proceed with the change of time regulated by EU law, as the new regulation has to apply throughout Europe.

The quarrels for the change of time continue

In Europe, the majority do not want any more change of time and in Germany there is no consensus on the time to change: the Federal Minister of Health has argued for the final pbadage to the summer time. The badociation of German teachers wants to keep the winter time. And then, there is a recent survey of the Kantar Emnid Institute from October of this year. As a result, only 51% of Germans have decided to keep the summer time. 42% concerned the maintenance of the so-called normal hour, that is to say the time that is applied in winter.

Normal time – summer time: what is normal?

According to the Kantar Emnid survey, the elderly, in particular, are in favor of the normal time. 57% of over 65s have said so. It is the standard time. One hour in the summer was first introduced in 1916. Politicians promised themselves energy savings. Three years later, it was abolished again. During the Second World War, it was reorganized and introduced after a repeated withdrawal in 1980 at the same time as the GDR.

"At the front and back of the clocks, we do not save energy: citizens switch off the lights less often in the evening, but they warm up more in the spring and autumn in the morning – it's mutually exclusive. " Federal Agency for the Environment, 2007

Sleep problems due to change of time

According to a DAK survey of 2018, a quarter of respondents said they had already had problems such as sleep disorders during the change of time. 63% of women and 53% of men reported having difficulty falling asleep after the summer. According to their own information, a little less than a third could be worse and 26% would feel even irritated.

"The body lives its own watch – and that does not change overnight, so if you have pain, do not despair immediately, be patient." Dr. Susanne Bleich, DAK physician

More severe judgments, road accidents, heart attacks

There are several studies on the change of time. Jürgen Zulley, psychologist, sleep researcher and former professor at the University of Regensburg, pleads for the permanent change of the normal time, as the switch to the summer time raises many problems. According to Zulley, most people do not rest well in the spring after the change. According to Zulley, most people get used to the new time two or three days later.

Even cows produce less milk after conversion, if they are milked an hour earlier. According to Zulley's findings, on the first Monday morning of the summer, road accidents would be eight times as many as a regular Monday. Conversely, it was in the fall, according to the dormant researcher from Regensburg, as accidents were then 7% less frequent than usual.

Normally in winter, the body is at its own pace. The University of Augsburg has notably studied the relationship between time change and heart attacks. She came to the conclusion that in men, the risk of heart attack during the first three days of summer time is expected to increase by about 15%. In Sweden, researchers found that about four percent more infarcts occurred during the first week of summer.

"Our internal clock is very robust and ignores the changes, it acts as if everything stayed the same, it helped us to spend the night, then the biological clock insists on the old rhythm and brings us back That does not change only when we live a long time in a new time zone. "Jürgen Zulley, sleep researcher

Help against bad sleep

Sleep is important. Unfortunately, people with insomnia are often thin, irritable and depressed. If general practitioner problems can not be resolved, patients should seek help in a sleep center. There, for example, it is possible to take measurements in a sleep laboratory. The patient usually spends one night there. It is connected to various sensors and measuring devices and monitored by a camera. This allows you to control the different stages of sleep. In the sleep laboratory, the physical causes of sleep disorders can be determined. Depending on the case, the patient will be referred to a pulmonologist, neurologist, otolaryngologist, pediatrician, psychologist or psychiatrist and psychotherapist.

How to sleep better: no coffee, no alcohol, good ventilation

Important behaviors to sleep well are important. These include a dark room, proper room temperature, good ventilation and the least amount of coffee in the evening, as well as alcohol abstention, if there are already sleep disturbances. Popularly, the nightcap is considered a sleep aid. A myth – alcohol disrupts the architecture of sleep and leads to sleep disorders. Alcohol increases body temperature and leads to an increase in waking at night. In addition, alcohol contains toxic parts that further stress the liver.