

- — The sleep medicine community has long reported that double shifts of watches during the year are harmful to our health,” adds Mr Siemiński
- In 2018, there was a chance to leave the shift all six months. European Commission proposed to abolish the change in time
- In December 2024, Minister of improvement and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk said that the issue of departure from summertime to winter was included in the Polish Presidency's agenda in the EU
- There are presently 3 standard time zones in the EU. EU associate States decide which time region they want to belong to
- More crucial information can be found on the Onetu homepage
Throughout the European Union, summertime time is spent on the last Sunday of March, and by winter time comes back on the last Sunday of October. The common date and time of the start and end of the summertime period in all associate States shall be governed by the Directive in force since 2001.
In Poland, the change of time is regulated by the Regulation of the president of the Council of Ministers on the introduction and cancellation of the Central European summertime time in the years 2022-2026.
— The sleep medicine community has long reported that double shifts of watches during the year are harmful to our health. It introduces a very large confusion into our circadian rhythm. The evolutionary rhythm of our physiological processes determines sunlight. Its spectrum and colour are biological factors that affect our rhythms most during the day. It depends on the functioning of our body, the work of the central tense system, but besides the work of another systems, the cardiovascular system, the digestive system," said Prof. Siemiński of the Faculty of wellness Sciences of Gdańsk Medical University.
He explained that solar - dependent circaday rhythmics besides affect the functioning of the body at cellular level. Changes in vulnerability to light affect how DNA strand fragments are read in our cells, what kind of enzymes are produced.
In addition, changing time to summer, erstwhile we gotta get up early, pulls us out of the mediate of sleep often. — In the second half of the night, the sleep is physiologically overwhelming with fast movements of the eyeballs, or REM phase, erstwhile we have dreams. This is besides a phase that is characterized by a strong stimulation of the sympathetic tense system. During this period of night, the heart is moving faster, we have higher blood pressure. Even though we're asleep, we're on high-speed. To add to this a stress factor, specified as early awakening, makes the trend of more frequent cases, specified as a heart attack. It is small, but it is regular,” stressed Prof. Siemiński.
Are we gonna halt moving watches?
In 2018, there was a chance to leave the shift all six months. The European Commission has proposed to abolish the change in time. This proposal was supported by the European Parliament, but the substance is stuck in the EU Council. For the last time, the EU Council dealt with the issue in 2019. However, European capitals have not returned to the subject since. The difficulty is that countries request to communicate with 1 another and coordinate at which time — summertime or winter — they want to stay.
In December 2024, Minister of improvement and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk said that the issue of the departure from summertime to winter was included in the agenda of the Polish Presidency in the EU. In March this year, the EC spokeswoman stated that due to the prolonged deadlock in the EU Council, the European Commission decided to retreat its proposal to abolish the change in time. Minister Paszyk in a fresh conversation with RMF FM, however, pointed out that the substance of stopping the change of time is inactive open and the issue is consulted with associate States.
Three time zones in the European Union
There are presently 3 standard time zones in the EU. EU associate States decide which time region they want to belong to. Western European time is in force in Ireland and Portugal, Central European time in 17 countries in this geographical area. In turn, in east Europe we are dealing with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania.
Introduction of summertime time, i.e. moving clockwise an hr forward in the spring-summer period, was the first to be proposed by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century. In Europe, shifting clocks in the spring and autumn was first utilized to save energy during planet War I. This practice was reintroduced in many countries in the 1970s.