Student blogs

Sommartid, or Daylight Savings Time, starts on the 29th of March this year. The clocks in Sweden (and many other places!) will be moved an hour forward. In this blog I’ll be giving you 5 tips for a smooth transition.

1. Set your clocks and watches beforehand

Few things are as chaos inducing as realizing that your clock is running an hour late in the morning. Take my advice and set your clocks to sommartid the night before the switch takes place. Set it one hour ahead—so if your clock reads 10 pm, change it to 11 pm and you’ll be all set for the morning!

2. Get enough sleep!

Being the sort of person who needs her 8 hours (preferably more) a night, I cannot stress this enough: go to bed early! When sommartid starts, the clocks move forward in the middle of the night. Meaning that on that day, if you aim to sleep at 11 and wake up at 7 you’ll get 7 hours of sleep not 8! Go to bed an hour earlier than usual.

3. Be active

Being active and working out is a great way to get your body and mind into the rhythm if you’re feeling out of sync with the time. There are all sorts of nice endorphins that come from a workout, and if you exercise outside the light (or lack thereof) will help your body clock adjust. Double plus!

4. Time differences between zones will change

My friends and family are scattered all over the world, and keeping in touch requires keeping track of several time zones. This is important especially for people that juggle business or collaboration in different countries. The time difference between India and Sweden for example, is 3.5 hours in sommartid and 4.5 hours in vintertid. So keep that in mind! Double check the time difference to make sure you don’t end up calling people at the wrong time.

5. It’s okay to be tired

While it may not seem like an hour here or there ought to affect you, remember to be kind to yourself! Your circadian rhythm may take time to adjust. Many parts of our lives and daily schedules are time dependent so if you feel tired or off balance remember that it’s most likely an adjustment phase. Keep yourself and your health (both physical and mental) first, and be nice to others too!

So what’s the point of Sommartid?

Well, Sweden is well known for its long dark winter nights and long hours of summer sun. So moving the clocks helps give people some daylight after the work day in the winters and some more dark hours for sleep in the summer. Plus, early workers and schoolkids commute in less darkness this way.

Protip: A way to remember how the clocks are adjusted for sommartid and vintertid: “Spring Forward, Fall Back“

What are the results of practice of moving clocks backwards and forward in the year? Well, it seems that moving the clocks back in the autumn (starting vintertid) gives people the chance to get some extra sleep and the incidence of strokes and heart attacks drop on subsequent days. In personal experience, I’ve heard people say that they feel better once vintertid sets in and they see the sun more.

Moving the clocks forwards for sommartid seems to show the opposite for heart attacks and strokes, with incidence increasing.

So there’s a mixed bag. But hey, while changing whether or not a country practices daylight savings is a bit challenging to say the least, following these 5 tips isn’t 😉

And finally…

Ultimately, sommartid means that it’s time for summer – both literally and figuratively. Comment below if there’s something not on this list, and I hope you found this useful!

Cheers,

Inika ❤️