Author: Melanie de Lange, Epidemiology PhD Student, University of Bristol

A lot of people dread the clocks going back an hour in winter – but reassure themselves that at least they’ll get an extra hour’s sleep. However, in my new study my colleagues and I found most people do not (or can not) take advantage of the full extra hour of sleep in autumn. Daylight saving time is the practice of moving the clocks one hour forward in spring and one hour back in autumn. It was introduced during the first world war as a way to cut energy costs. It is in operation in around 70 countries and affects…