Crime, judge’s decisions: These are the consequences of the change of time for us

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Daylight saving time ends on Sunday: at 3am, the clocks go back to 2am. From that moment on, standard time, Central European Time, will be in effect again. Hours will be determined accordingly for five months until March 31, 2024.

Not everyone agrees on whether the six-month change makes sense. The reason for switching to daylight saving time was that changing the clocks would save electricity. The idea is that you don’t need the light until later in the summer. However, whether the time change actually saves electricity is controversial in science. A study commissioned by the Technology Assessment Office (TAB) of the German Bundestag in 2016 concluded that the energy savings were “minimal or negligible at best” after analyzing numerous studies on the subject.

cooling saving

However, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Research and Materials Testing (Empa) reached a different conclusion in a study published in January 2023 in the journal “Environmental Research Letters”. According to the research, the reason for this is not the lamps, but the air conditioning systems. According to the research, up to six percent of cooling energy can be saved by finishing work early in office buildings. Although the heat demand in the morning is slightly higher on average due to the early start to work, the savings in cooling far outweigh this effect.

There is greater consensus in science about the impact of the six-month clock change on sleep. According to sleep research, this change disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body’s natural 24-hour cycle that regulates important functions such as appetite, mood and sleep.

Increased risk of heart attack and stroke

According to various studies, this increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and suicide. However, a study published in the journal Nature in 2022 showed that death rates increased in the fall during the first two weeks after the time change, but decreased in the spring months after the change.

Lack of sleep has other effects, too. A study by US researchers published in the journal “Psychological Science” in 2016 concluded that judges, on average, gave longer prison sentences on the Monday after the time change than on other Mondays. Gathered for the time change this spring. Researchers thought that sleep deprivation made judges more strict.

Studies have also found effects on crime, the number of car accidents, student performance and even the frequency of wildfires. According to research published in 2020 in the journal Science of the Total Environment, there are 98 more wildfires in the United States every year because the time change means people light fires at times when the risk of wildfire is especially high. (SDA/no)

Source : Blick