[That is, if you are in the least bit troubled by seasonal affective disorder.]
The prospect of an extra hour in bed is tempting at this increasingly drear point in the calendar. But that hour is merely lent to you by 'them', and 'they' intend to take it back from you at the end of the day. As the clocks go back at two am tomorrow, Sunday 26 October, to be set for one am, the effect is that we gain an hour's daylight in the morning, but lose it in the evening.
That loss of an hour's evening daylight, every day, between now and the end of March 2026, can exacerbate the mood disorder brought on by the encroaching winter darkness. The condition is more marked (affecting more people more strongly) the further towards the poles one lives. Symptoms of winter SAD often include falling asleep earlier in the evening, oversleeping or difficulty waking up in the morning, nausea, and a tendency to overeat, often with a craving for carbohydrates and subsequent weight gain. There is also subsyndromal SAD (which I get), a milder form, which affects two and half times more people than the full-blown SAD.
Since equilux a month ago, I have as usual noticed that I tend to go to bed earlier and sleep longer (typically being in bed by 22:30 and sleeping for nine hours, waking at 07:30). In high summer, I tend to sleep for just over seven hours.
My remedy to the Hammer of Darkness is to ignore the time change; make the most of the decreasing daylight hours by going to bed earlier and getting up earlier on Sunday morning. Eschew that lie-in. Tonight, and for as many nights as you can, go to bed at least one hour earlier, and wake up an hour earlier. This will mean waking up before dawn, witnessing sunrise, making the most of mid-December's seven-hour days, and going to bed as early as you can.
Yesterday it rained all day, but this morning was beautifully cloudless, I was up for an early walk (not a long one it must be said) before breakfast, but that walk in the sun set me up for the day, and I caught the sunset too. Today it was at 17:20. Tomorrow it will be at 16:18. Each day sees less and less daylight, until we reach the plateau of darkness (from 9 to 16 December, the sun sets here at 15:24, and from 27 December to 2 January, it rises at 07:43). From the Winter Solstice, the day's net length will start to increase, noticeably by New Year's Day. And then, on 18 March, we reach equilux. The day will be just over 12 hours in length.
Below: morning in the wood next door with my six cats. Czestuś (right), being orange, blends in perfectly with the fallen foliage at this time of year. Photo take shortly after nine am today; were I to have taken it tomorrow, the sun will be casting these shadows shortly after eight am. Make the most of the morning light!
Unlike preparations for the spring time change, which take several days, combating SAD or SSAD at this time of year is simple – just go to bed a little earlier today, and wake up a little earlier tomorrow.
Never mind the time change. The only clocks that count are your body clock and the rising and setting of the sun. Czas jest umowny; time is something we socially agree upon, what time we meet, at what time television programmes etc are shown. YouTube and Play Again functions means we are no longer slaves to TV schedules; if something's on too late, watch it at some other time. But if you are prone to the seasonal blues caused by long nights and insufficient daylight, the least you can do is to benefit from that morning hour and go to bed early.
Stop scrolling. Go to bed... now!
Public transport improvements
This time last year:
Sublime autumn, Jeziorki
This time six years ago:
New track from Chynów to Warka
This time eight years ago:
More about sleep
This time nine years ago:
Scenes from West Ealing and Hanwell
This time ten years ago:
Four years of PiS
This time 13 years ago:
High Victorian Manchester
This time 16 years ago:
Clocks go back – but when to set them forward?
This time 17 years ago:
Warsaw's Metro Line 1 reaches Młociny
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