Time changes: how does it work?
Why change time?
Once is not custom, the change of time is not a French exception. In fact, nearly 70 countries stick to it twice a year, but not necessarily at the same time.
Concretely, in the spring, it advances the official time of the country of 60 minutes. And fall, we go back 60 minutes, to return to normal time.
But why such an organization?
At the origin of this initiative of the governments concerned? The idea of sticking the so-called "active" hours of the day (those where we work) to hours of sunshine. A small modification that plays on the biological rhythm (the body is used to being in better shape during the day), but especially an economic and ecological approach. By gaining one hour of lighting in the evening, we reduce all the more the consumption of artificial light. And it is not for nothing, if this habit was taken in the 70's, which experienced the biggest known oil shock. Each year, the economy would be about 250,000 tonnes of oil, just for France.
What are the consequences for health?
The specialists are very mixed on the subject. Those who would like the time change to be abolished, explain that when we go back one hour, this creates a shortcoming. sleep in all population groups.
Although transient, this deficiency can take up to three weeks to resolve. Since we already tend to sleep less than what we are advised to do, the deficit in sleep is even bigger.
The lack of sleep disturbs the biological rhythm, also in charge of regulating mood, appetite, adaptability to the surrounding environment and our ability to focus on something specific. All this is still manageable by the body without too much trouble.
