Daylight Saving Time … *Yawn* …“Leave me alone!“
When things are repeated, you get used to it and become resistant to the argumentation. This can be positive, but it can also be negative. It would be positive if people started to change things, but negative if a “that’s just the way it is” attitude became established. We now know all about the negative effects of summertime, but it’s like smoking, alcohol and cigarettes. People talk themselves into it, which means that politicians (who are currently to blame) still don’t have to do anything. And yes, daylight saving time also has something to do with performance at school.
Daylight Saving Time – depression booster
We turn the clock twice a year – and treat it like a side note. A brief media frenzy, then back to business as usual. One hour forward, one hour back. An organizational detail that you just go along with. For adults, it’s annoying. For children, it’s more than that. If you take a sober look at the studies, it becomes clear that the switch to summer time is no harmless mini jet lag. It shifts the everyday lives of children and young people out of their biological rhythm for weeks. And this is not without consequences.
The most important aspect that few people have on their radar: The exponentially increasing physical strain on children and young people due to digitalization would actually require “more” mental regeneration to compensate for this to some extent. However, the exact opposite is the case, and summer time has added to this. Even more so than in the past, Daylight Saving Time in conjunction with school start times can become a depression booster that nobody has on their radar. And I’m not even talking about exam times, which often coincide with the biological sleep phase.
Why daylight saving time does not shift the internal clock
The key point is simple: with summer time, school effectively starts an hour earlier for the body, while the internal clock does not change. At the same time, the morning light shifts backwards. However, it is precisely this light that is the most important clock generator for the internal clock. It stops melatonin production, activates the body and ensures that we wake up. If this signal is missing, the body continues to run in night mode – even when the alarm clock rings and lessons begin.
And I would like to emphasize that here: No, it does not change. It adapts to the course of the day in summer, but not to our artificial time! Habituation is not an evolutionary high-speed adaptation, but an emergency program.
For children, this means that they need to be alert while their brains are still biologically programmed for sleep. But everyone wants performance!
My video on summer time, explains the effect on young people explicitly!
Measurable consequences for sleep and attention
Measurement studies with schoolchildren show that this is not just theory. After the switch to summer time, children and young people sleep on average around thirty minutes less per night. In the first week of school, this adds up to a sleep loss of almost three hours. At the same time, reaction time and attention deteriorate measurably, while daytime tiredness increases significantly. It is important to note that these effects are not just based on surveys or observation. They were measured using sleep trackers and standardized vigilance tests.
What is even more remarkable is that the body does not simply adapt after a few days. Studies show that increased daytime sleepiness can persist in the long term. Young people are particularly affected as genetic late sleepers, i.e. precisely the age group that biologically falls asleep later and wakes up later anyway. And precisely the age group that faces important exams, which of course start early in the morning!
Some researchers therefore explicitly recommend not scheduling any exams, at least in the first few weeks after the time change.
Why school requires exactly the skills in question
Sleep deprivation affects the second half of sleep, the half that is so important for mental regeneration and for anchoring what has been learned in the memory. A lack of sleep therefore affects precisely the functions that school demands on a daily basis: Concentration, working memory, impulse control and decision-making ability. These so-called executive functions react particularly sensitively to sleep deficits. Summertime biologically shifts school deeper into the night, while at the same time the demands remain unchanged. Summer performance is expected under winter conditions.
A look at traffic accidents
A look at a completely different area shows just how real these restrictions are: road safety. An analysis of more than 700,000 fatal traffic accidents in the USA revealed that the number of fatal accidents increases by six percent in the week following the time change. A European trauma registry study also found a drastic increase in motorcycle accidents the week after the changeover. These figures are a clear indication of the extent to which attention and reaction times are impaired during this phase.
Why children and young people are particularly affected
Children and adolescents are particularly sensitive to this shift. Their circadian system is still developing and, as already mentioned, adolescents in particular have a biologically later internal clock. Even without the time change, school starts far too early for them. This problem is exacerbated by summer time. For many young people, lessons will biologically start in the middle of the night after the changeover.
Political responsibility
Chronobiologists have been calling for the abolition of the time changeover and a permanent standard time for years. The reason is simple: it corresponds best to solar time and therefore to human biology. Daylight saving time is not a biological necessity, but a political decision. Anyone talking about education, mental health and prevention can hardly ignore this issue.
Responsibility of the schools
Schools cannot abolish the time change. But they can take its effects into account. Exams directly after the changeover, unchanged performance requirements or a lack of sensitivity to tiredness and concentration problems exacerbate the effect. More exercise and daylight in the morning as well as a more conscious approach to performance assessments could help.
Responsibility of the parents
Countermeasures can also be taken in everyday life. In the weeks following the time change, consistent sleeping times, as much morning light as possible and less screen time in the evening can help. Above all, however, patience helps. If children seem unfocused during this phase, they are not reacting “unwillingly”, but biologically. And yes, parents could also put pressure on politicians instead of just selfishly focusing on their “barbecue enthusiasm” on “long evenings”.
Conclusion: children don’t matter
Once again, we see that our children/young people are being ignored. “We had to go through it too” or “There are just more important things” are the top brainless arguments here. Summertime will become a real depression booster as the psychological strain on children and young people increases, and nobody is aware of their responsibility. But it is important for politicians that they can vote earlier. Completely exhausted young people are then expected to make decisions.
I know this article will be forgotten again, as one of millions, unless it is shared! Thank you so much!
