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Hey everyone and welcome back to
another episode of the 

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Understandable English Podcast. 
I'm Oliver and today we are 

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going to be talking about clock 
changes in the UK. 

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So what is that? 
What am I talking about? 

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South. 
Twice per year the time in the 

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UK changes, so how we calculate 
time? 

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And this happens this year on 
Sunday, the 31st of March, and 

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again on Sunday the 27th of 
October. 

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So what does this mean? 
Why do we do it and what are the

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arguments for and against? 
Let's explore. 

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OK, on Sunday the 31st of March.
So this Sunday the clocks will 

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go forward one hour at 1:00 AM 
and this always happens on the 

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last Sunday in March. 
And this enters what we call 

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British Summertime BST. 
So what is BST? 

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BST is also sometimes called 
Daylight savings time and this 

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is in the summertime, spring and
summertime in the UK when we 

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have longer days, so the time 
goes forward so that we have 

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longer days with more daylight 
in the evening, and then again 

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at the end of the year or 
towards the end of the year in 

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autumn. 
On the the last Sunday in 

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October the time goes back one 
hour at 2:00 AM, so it jumps 

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backwards. 
And that means that there are 

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brighter mornings, so longer 
mornings and shorter evenings, 

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so the days become shorter. 
They start earlier, but they 

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finish earlier and that's why it
seems in the UK much darker at 

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5:00 AM or 5:00 PM after work 
for example. 

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So in general, by turning the 
clocks back an hour during 

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autumn, so by removing an hour 
this provides people with more 

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sunlight in the morning and by 
turning the clocks forward so by

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plus one hour in the spring, 
this brings us lighter evenings.

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That is the general idea. 
So why was BST British 

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Summertime introduced or 
created? 

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Let's have a look at some 
history. 

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So British Summertime was first 
introduced as part of the 

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Summertime Act of 1916. 
The idea has been around for a 

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very long time and even as early
as 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote 

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about a similar idea, so in the 
US but in the UK. 

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The main reason why the 
government adopted so accepted 

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this idea in 1916 was during 
World War One, and the reason 

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why was that politicians 
believed it would help reduce 

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the demand for coal. 
Let's think about that. 

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So if the evenings are darker in
the winter time and the days are

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shorter, more people will go to 
bed. 

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In the winter time it's cold, 
they will finish their days 

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earlier and in the summertime it
is brighter for longer, which 

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means less people will be using 
lights at night time and 

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electricity and will be burning 
less coal in their fireplaces 

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because they can see and use the
light. 

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So in general the idea is that 
overall people will use less 

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energy. 
Of course this is just the have 

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reasoned during World War One 
and it's not the reason why 

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people do it today or why we 
still do it. 

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However, the UK was not the 
first to do this, so it may have

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been the first major country in 
the modern time to introduce a 

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measure like this. 
But there are even records of 

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the ancient Romans, so the Roman
Empire following a similar 

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practice in order to use their 
time efficiently during the day.

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But often now some of us ask 
ourselves why? 

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Why do we still do this? 
It's a bit strange. 

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In the winter time especially. 
Some people feel like the days 

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are too short. 
Yes, we have brighter mornings, 

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so more light and sunlight in 
the morning time, but the days 

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finish so quickly and by the 
time you've finished work it's 

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already dark. 
So let's look at some arguments 

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for and against this change in 
time. 

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So the main argument in favour 
of the like Autumn change to 

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Greenwich Mean Time, so GMT is 
its effect on the mornings. 

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So whenever we whenever we put 
the clocks forward our backwards

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so we have an extra hour in bed 
and the days become shorter but 

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the mornings are brighter. 
It ensures that most people who 

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work from 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM 
in the UK will arrive at work in

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daylight, for example even in 
Scotland. 

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So in Edinburgh, from official 
daylight never comes later than 

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8:45 AM, even in the middle of 
winter. 

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So it is making sure that it is 
always bright by the time it 

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gets to 9:00 AM so that everyone
can work. 

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Especially outdoor workers can 
work in daylight and not in the 

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dark. 
And some of the ideas around 

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this is that it helps with 
productivity and efficiency. 

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So we're not working in the 
dark. 

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It's safer, it's more effective 
and more efficient. 

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It also ensures that it is 
bright for children travelling 

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to school or going to school as 
well, and really should make the

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morning times easier in general.
So what do some people say that 

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are against this change in time 
in winter and also in summer? 

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So opponents, Opponents. 
So an opponent is someone who is

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against something. 
So opponents of our biannual 

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time switching, so that change 
in time twice per year say that 

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at its very best it is confusing
and at its worst it is actually 

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bad for our health. 
So what does the research 

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actually say? 
So there are some studies which 

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show us that the first weekdays 
after the clocks go forward in 

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spring are associated with an 
increase in heart attacks by up 

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to 24%. 
And the reason for this might be

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the change in sleep and the 
effects of sleep on our hearts 

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health. 
But scientists are quick to 

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point out that this crazy 
increase very quickly drops 

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again and actually compensates. 
So the decrease is almost as big

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as the increase, meaning it does
almost nothing to the data and 

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statistics. 
So what other reasons do we 

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have? 
The main reason is the effect on

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sleep. 
Changing our time by one hour in

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spring and one hour in autumn 
might not sound like that big a 

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deal, but across a population 
the effect and impact on sleep 

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could be really, really big. 
And there are some studies 

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showing that there's an increase
in car accidents around these 

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switches because people are not 
sleeping as well. 

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However, there is also more 
studies and people who are in 

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favour, so they support this 
time change with the fact that 

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morning light is fought to help 
wake us up and make us more 

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alert. 
So it's safer because we feel 

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more awake with those brighter 
mornings in the winter time, and

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then in the summertime we 
naturally have more sunlight 

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anyway, we're closer to the sun 
and we have naturally longer 

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days with both bright mornings 
and much longer brighter 

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evenings. 
In my opinion. 

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I think in the summertime it is 
a win win. 

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So we have really long days with
lots more sunlight. 

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But in winter time I do think 
it's quite depressing. 

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So it is bright when you arrive 
at work, but it is still dark 

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most of the time when you wake 
up and then when you leave work 

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it is still dark. 
But of course I can't make the 

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decision about what time is best
or what time system we should 

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use. 
I hope this was interesting for 

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you to hear about. 
I'm curious or interested to 

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hear. 
Do you also change the time in 

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your country with different 
seasons? 

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I know lots of countries have 
stopped doing this. 

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We still do it here in the UK 
and I'm interested to hear. 

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Do you change the time in your 
country too? 

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Let me know in the comments 
below and I would love for you 

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to share this podcast with other
friends or students who are 

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studying English too. 
Thank you for listening and have

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an amazing day.