The time change in Spain, as in many other countries, is a biannual time adjustment that takes place twice a year: the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. In March 2024, the time change occurs to enter daylight saving timemoving the clocks forward one hour.
This implies lose an hour of sleep that night, but it allows you to enjoy more natural light during the afternoons. In October, the process is reversed, and clocks are turned back one hour, providing an extra hour of sleep but with less natural light in the afternoons.
Time change 2024: everything you need to know
The night from Saturday March 30 to Sunday March 31, the time adjustment corresponding to the time change in Spain will be carried out: at 2 in the morning, the clocks will automatically advance to 3. This change will mean that we sleep one hour less that night. However, from that day on, we will be able to enjoy more natural light during the afternoons, which will result in energy savings. This new schedule will remain in place until October 27, when winter time returns.
He change to summer time, which happens in March, marks the beginning of a period with more hours of sunlight, although summer itself begins later, in June. Specifically, summer in the northern hemisphere will begin on June 20 at 10:51 p.m., according to the National Geographic Institute. This season will last 93 days and 16 hours, ending on September 22, at which time it will give way to autumn.
How it affects health
First of all, the sleep disorders They are common due to difficulty falling asleep or waking up earlier. Additionally, losing an hour of sleep can result in fatigue and drowsiness during the day.
Some studies suggest a possible relationship between the change of daylight saving time and an increased risk of suffering traffic accidents, work accidents or heart attacks. Likewise, the time change can also affect the moodgenerating irritability or nervousness due to the alteration of the sleep cycle.
dawn and dusk
He time change in March 2024 alters the sunrise and sunset times. In March, moving the clock forward causes sunrise to be delayed compared to standard time before the change, meaning daylight extends further into the early morning hours. Additionally, in summer time, it will also get dark later.
Origen
The practice of turning the clock forward in summer and back in winter, known as time change, has roots in Ancient Rome. At that time, Roman water clocks, called water clocks, had different scales depending on the month of the year.
For example, in the latitude of Rome, during the winter solstice, the third hour after sunrise, known as tertiary hour, began at 09:02 and lasted 44 minutes. However, during the summer solstice, it began at 06:58 and lasted 75 minutes, according to historian Jérôme Carcopino.
A more recent antecedent of modern daylight saving time dates back to the April 30, 1916, during World War I, when the German government decided to advance all clocks one hour to save energy. Two years later, in the same context of energy savings during the war, American President Woodrow Wilson signed a decree in 1918 to advance the time.
However, once the war ended, these measures were revoked. The extended practice of time change It began in 1974, in response to the first oil crisis, with the aim of reducing electricity consumption.
European Union decision
Experts are concerned about the limited energy savings of the time change, as well as the possible negative effects on citizens' health. In 2018, Jean-Claude Juncker, former president of the European Commission, responded to calls to repeal the Directive 2000/84/EC.
Despite this, the pandemic and other obstacles have caused a delay in the elimination of the time change, which remains in force without a defined end date. However the Official State Gazette (BOE) has published what could be the last time change in Spain.
In response to European initiatives, the Spanish Government established a expert commission in March 2019 to evaluate this issue. Although most experts advocated ending the time changes and remaining on winter time, it appears that these changes will continue until at least 2026, according to a BOE publication in March 2022.
Las next time change dates in Spain, according to the BOEare the following:
- Sunday March 31, 2024
- Sunday October 27, 2024
- Sunday March 30, 2025
- Sunday October 26, 2025
- Sunday March 29, 2026
- Sunday October 25, 2026