When do the clocks go back in 2026? Sunday 25 October
On Sunday 25 October 2026 the clocks go back one hour. In the UK, 2am becomes 1am again; in most of mainland Europe, 3am becomes 2am. You get an extra hour in bed, and from that weekend it is light an hour earlier in the morning and dark an hour earlier in the evening.
One hour sounds like nothing. Yet many people feel it for days: awake before the alarm, tired by nine in the evening, or the other way round. Your body does not run on the clock on the wall, it runs on light. To be honest, we think it is time this stopped, and many of our readers feel the same. Below you can read why the change is so noticeable, why it is still with us, and what you can do to help your rhythm along for as long as it is.
When do the clocks change?
Clocks go back 2026: Sunday 25 October. In the UK at 2am BST, back to 1am GMT. In the Netherlands, Germany and most of Europe at 3am, back to 2am. The night is one hour longer.
Clocks go forward 2027: Sunday 28 March. In the UK at 1am GMT, forward to 2am BST. In most of Europe at 2am, forward to 3am. The night is one hour shorter.
The rule never changes: the clocks go forward on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October. Or, as the old saying goes: spring forward, fall back.
Is winter time the normal time?
Yes. What we call winter time is the standard time: Greenwich Mean Time in the UK, Central European Time in most of mainland Europe. Summer time is the exception, an hour we borrow in March and give back in October.
In the UK, winter time is almost the same as sun time: Greenwich lies on the meridian the whole system is measured from, so in London the sun is at its highest around midday. Here in the Netherlands, where we are based, it is different. Our time zone is set to a line much further east, through Germany and Poland, so the sun is at its highest around 12:40 in winter and even around 13:40 in summer.
Why do we have summer time at all?
The idea came from a British builder, William Willett, who was annoyed that people slept through the bright summer mornings. Britain introduced summer time in 1916, in the middle of the First World War, a few weeks after Germany, to save fuel. Since then the clocks have changed twice a year, with one notable exception: from 1968 to 1971 Britain tried keeping summer time all year round. The dark winter mornings, especially in Scotland and the north, were so unpopular that the trial was stopped.
The original argument was simple: if it stays light longer in the evening, fewer lamps go on. With LED lighting that saving has almost disappeared. What remains is a twice-yearly disruption of the rhythm of an entire population, for a benefit that hardly exists any more.
Why hasn't it been abolished?
A few years ago it really looked as if it would happen. In 2018 the European Commission asked citizens for their opinion. It received 4.6 million responses, the most ever for such a consultation, and 84 percent wanted to stop changing the clocks. The Commission proposed ending it, and in March 2019 the European Parliament agreed, with 2021 as the target year.
Then it went quiet. The member states have to agree together, and they cannot. The sticking point is which time it should be: permanent summer time or permanent winter time. If neighbouring countries choose differently, Europe ends up with a patchwork of time zones, and no government wants to be blamed for that. The proposal has been on the shelf ever since. The UK, no longer part of the EU, would make its own choice, and its experience of 1968 to 1971 shows how much that choice matters.
If it were up to your body, the answer is fairly clear. Associations of sleep and body-clock researchers argue for permanent winter time, the standard time. With it, the morning light falls at the moment your internal clock needs it. With permanent summer time, the sun would not rise in London until around nine in December, and in Edinburgh not until about a quarter to ten. You can read why that matters below.
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What the change does to your body
Almost everything in your body follows a daily rhythm: when you get sleepy, your body temperature, your appetite, the production of hormones. This internal clock, known in science as the circadian rhythm, does not run at exactly 24 hours on its own, so it is reset every day. The most important signal it uses for that is light, especially the light that reaches your eyes in the morning.
A small group of nerve cells deep in the brain, just above the point where the optic nerves cross, receives that light signal and passes it on to the rest of the body. One of the receivers is the pineal gland. It produces melatonin as soon as it gets dark and stops when light reaches your eyes again. In this way melatonin is the body's signal to itself that it is evening. This small gland has also held a special place in spiritual traditions for centuries, as the third eye. We wrote a separate article about it: the mysteries of the pineal gland.
When the clocks go back, nothing changes outside: the sun rises when it always rises. What shifts is your day. Relative to the sun you get up an hour later, and you eat, work and sleep at a different moment from what your body was used to. Most people adjust within a few days to a week.
The hardest part comes afterwards. From the end of October the days get shorter quickly, and around the shortest day the sun does not rise until about eight in London and nearly a quarter to nine in Edinburgh. If you leave home early and work indoors all day, you may barely see daylight on weekdays. And that is exactly the morning light your internal clock uses to reset itself each day.
How to help your rhythm along
Shift a little in advance. In the evenings before the change, go to bed a quarter of an hour later each time and get up a little later. That makes Sunday's jump smaller.
Seek out morning light. If you can, go outside within the first hour of getting up, even if only for fifteen minutes. Even a grey morning outside gives far more light than a well-lit room.
Keep the evening calm. Bright light and screens late in the evening tell your body it is still daytime. Dim the lights an hour before bed.
Keep regular times. Getting up and eating at roughly the same time, weekends included, helps your clock more than one long lie-in.
Think about vitamin D. From October to March the sun in the UK is too low for your skin to make much vitamin D. The NHS therefore advises everyone to consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement of 10 micrograms during autumn and winter.
Light when you can't get outside in the morning
Not everyone can go for a morning walk. That is what the Luminette was made for: light therapy glasses you wear while you have breakfast, read the paper or go through your email. The light comes from above your eyes, so you can still look around freely. A session lasts 20 to 45 minutes, once a day, preferably in the morning. The glasses weigh 65 grams and fit over ordinary glasses.
Do you spend your mornings mainly in the car or at your computer? The Luminette Drive is a small light source that you attach with a magnetic clip to the sun visor or the edge of your screen. It also sits above your field of vision, so your view stays clear.
Do you have an eye condition or cataracts, or are you being treated for a mental health condition? Then talk to your optician, eye specialist or GP before starting light therapy.
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Finally
We hope that one day a decision will be made, preferably for winter time. Until then we go along with it twice a year. The hour you get back on Sunday is usually the easy part. The difference lies in the months that follow: whether, despite the short days, you get enough light at the moment your body asks for it. You can do a lot about that yourself, with a morning walk, with regular times, and if that does not work, with light at home.
Questions about the Luminette or about what suits you? Email us at info@meditecheurope.nl. We are happy to help.
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