The change to summer time will take place on Sunday 28th March 2021. It will be 2 a.m. and 3 p.m. The continuity of this time change is still being debated, and the benefits are increasingly questionable. Here are five questions you can ask yourself (answers).

• When was the time change introduced?

When time change was first mentioned, it was in the eighteenth century. Benjamin Franklin noted the potential savings in terms of lighting at that point if the time to get up was brought forward by at least an hour.

Legend has it that he wrote a letter to a French newspaper to talk about it. His article would generate many active and proactive responses. Germany and the United Kingdom were the first countries to adopt a time change. It was April and May 1916.

In 1916, France also implemented a time change, which was June 14. But by the end of World War II, daylight saving time was abandoned.

Until the 1973 oil shock, the French government thought about how to save money. The time change was reinstated on March 28, 1976. But the French foreign departments and territories will not change over time. Most European countries adopted the term change in the 1980s.

A European decree in 2001 coincided with these time changes. From this date, time change occurs simultaneously in all EU countries. For the winter, it’s the last Sunday in October at 3 to 2 p.m. In the summer, it’s 3pm on the last Sunday in March.

The countries of the European Union are currently divided into three time zones:

– Western Europe (GMT): Ireland and Portugal;

– Central Europe (GMT + 1): Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden;

– Eastern Europe (GMT + 2): Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania.

• How many countries currently apply time change?

Sixty countries around the world are still applying the time change.

Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Tunisia, China, Japan, South Korea, Iceland and Egypt agreed to cancel the agreement. The vast majority of countries have never introduced a time change.

• Does time change save energy?

There is no evidence that changing time has had a significant impact on energy gains. In 2017, the European report qualifies the EU “summer-time adjustment” results on energy gains.

It highlights the differences in outcomes between southern and northern European countries. With gains of 0.5% to 2.5% depending on the country.

Studies, associations and health and economists have shown that evening lighting can be offset by overeating in the morning.

• Does time change affect health?

In addition to the energy saving side, changing time also affects health. At the health or biological level, disruption of the pace of life can have consequences, especially for the elderly and young.

More and more people are questioning the benefits of changing time.

Sleep is a major drawback of changing time.

It binds to the natural sleep hormone melatonin. It leaks during the dark.

For health reasons, some are opposed to changing the time associated with the curfew this year.

No information is provided on this topic or when the last change will occur or not.