Don’t get stressed and play for time

DAYLIGHT saving time was introduced in the UK in 1916, in the middle of the First World War, as a way of reducing energy consumption.

So why do we still do it 103 years later?

Well, I don’t think anyone has a really convincing argument one way or another, but today’s 24/7 lifestyle certainly makes clock time seem increasingly irrelevant.

Either way, it does have an effect on your body.

Research shows that for some, it can take a few days for your internal body clock to reset.

But what is worth remembering is that, due to the change happening at 2am on a Sunday morning, most people don’t set alarms.

Therefore, you don’t really “lose” any sleep. If you usually get eight hours of shut-eye a night and don’t set an alarm when you go to bed on Saturday, it does not matter if the hands on your watch move in the night – you should still get the same amount of rest.

There is some suggestion that, particularly for children, gradually altering bedtime by 15 minutes can be useful, but I think this is pointless.

My best advice is to make sure you change all your clocks to the new time before you go to sleep, meaning that you hit the ground running when you wake up.

Don’t stress about “losing” or “gaining” an hour – if you normally wake up at 7am, get up at 7am.