The early morning of this Saturday to Sunday begins winter time. To do this, the clocks throughout Spain will be set back one hour. When it hits 3:00, the clock will return to 2:00 on the peninsula, while in the Canary Islands it will be from 2:00 to 1:00. Thus, this last Sunday in October will have 25 hours and Spaniards will be able to sleep one more hour. This time change has been happening for 50 years, although there is currently a debate about whether it should be maintained or not.
Most European countries They introduced the time change in the seventies due to the energy crisis derived from the increase in oil prices. Spain did it urgently in 1974 and, since then, summer time – which begins in March – and winter time – which begins in October – have been maintained. The goal was (and continues to be) to coincide day-to-day activities with sunlight and thus limit the use of electrical energy during the morning and afternoon.
However, the time change is now object of debatesince there are those who claim that energy savings are minimal and that the change affects people’s health. Francisco J. Tapiador, professor of physics, explains that the main argument is energy savings in offices and factories during the demand for electricity in the morning. Furthermore, he indicates that: “With an electrical network with an increasing weight of solar energy, it seems that the change makes sense, because the need to store energy is reduced, although in terms of consumption the savings that the time change represents It’s getting smaller.”
María Prado, head of Greenpeace’s Energy campaign, explains that it is an important measure in relation to when we save, rather than how much we save. In addition, it forces a change in behavior that “is key to guiding the country to the use of energy when there are renewables, facilitating the integration of renewable energies and thus making the system more efficient.” He calls this demand management, which is moving consumption habits to hours when there is renewable energy in the system, and thus avoiding connecting gas or nuclear plants.
On the contrary, those who disagree with the change warn that it affects people’s circadian rhythm and, therefore, sleep, children and older adults being the most affected. Children, for example, will have a hard time going to sleep and also getting up at the usual time, which can lead to irritation, tantrums, and difficulty maintaining attention for five to ten days. Thus, associations of specialists such as the Spanish Sleep Society, the European Sleep Research Society, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, among others, indicate that only one schedule should be established and the winter schedule should be maintained. This is more suited to people’s biological rhythm and improves the quality of sleep, despite the fact that summer time is what Spaniards like the most.
There are those who see time changes as a natural adaptation of societies to the different seasons. José María Martín Olalla, professor of physics at the University of Seville, explains: “It is the adaptation of society with its schedules and habits to a natural fact, which is the seasons. In winter it dawns very late and in summer very early. In one way or another, societies seek how to adapt their rhythm and activity to this natural phenomenon.” And he adds that energy savings end up being secondary and a consequence of this adaptation.
Although the debate continues, the truth is that in Spain the time change will continue until at least October 2026, according to the BOE. In 2018, the European Union presented a proposal to eliminate the twice-yearly time change, but no final decision was made. Until this is achieved, the two-year schedule system remains in force. Currently, less than 40% of countries in the world adjust the time. On the European continent the only countries that do not make the change are Russia, Türkiye, Belarus and Iceland.
