The Supreme Council of Ukraine did not support the abolition of seasonal clock changes twice a year. On March 28, clocks in Ukraine will be put forward one hour. The author of the initiative, Deputy Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk of the Party of the Servant of the People, justified the rejection of the time change by citing people’s health concerns.
“Such a ‘seasonal time leap’ leads to changes in biological rhythms and negatively affects the overall condition of a person, both physiologically and psychologically. After changing the clocks, citizens experience a decline in well-being, reduced productivity and a significant aggravation of chronic diseases,” the explanatory note to the bill states.
Ruslan Stefanchuk believes that changing the time is not good for health. A number of scientists agree with him. Stefanchuk also proposed to approve the concept of “Kiev Time”, which refers to the time zone in which the capital of Ukraine, the city of Kiev, is located. This corresponds to the second time zone in the national scale of coordinated time of Ukraine UTC (UA) +2. According to the deputy, this is aimed at protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine: “On the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the time of the aggressor state – the Russian Federation – is established. Therefore, the establishment and consolidation of the unified Kyiv time throughout the entire territory of Ukraine, without exception, will help strengthen Ukraine’s security positions and contribute to the de-occupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories”.
Russia introduced Moscow time in the annexed Crimea, as well as in unrecognized republics in eastern Ukraine. In the summer of 1981, Ukraine, along with the other republics of the USSR, began the first daylight saving time. In 2011, (following Russia) the switch to winter time was canceled, but the population of the country did not like this decision (following Russia), so it was revoked. Russia switched to permanent daylight saving time in 2011. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also explained this decision as having a negative impact on people’s health. However, in 2014, due to numerous complaints, Russia decided to switch the clocks to winter time.
Today, about a hundred countries around the world synchronize their clocks – a practice that began in the early 20th century. It was thought that this would help to save a significant amount of electricity, since human activity largely coincides with daylight and there is no need to turn on artificial lighting unnecessarily. However, if these considerations were valid a hundred years ago, today, according to the estimates of Czech scientists who have summarized numerous studies on this issue, clock translation allows saving only 0.34% of electricity.
At the time of the study’s publication, 77 countries and regions with a total population of about 1.5 billion people practiced DST. But today, more and more countries are abandoning it. In 2019, the European Parliament abolished the mandatory changeover of clocks between summer and winter time in EU countries. Starting in 2021, each member of the European Union will be able to choose whether to keep the current clock change system or abandon it altogether. Previously, a special EU directive required all 28 member countries to switch to daylight saving time on the last Sunday in March and back to standard time on the last Sunday in October. This was preceded by a public debate on the idea of abolishing Daylight Saving Time in which more than 4.6 million EU citizens took part. The vast majority expressed their support for the abolition of daylight saving time. EU countries that opt for permanent DST will have to adjust their clocks for the last time on the last Sunday in March 2021.
There are numerous studies that have examined the relationship between certain diseases and circadian changes. In 2020, an international group of researchers investigated how the introduction of daylight saving time affects the incidence of several diseases. Scientists analyzed the health of more than 150 million people living in the United States and Sweden. It turns out that there are four major groups of health problems that really depend on changing the clock. These are cardiovascular disease, various injuries, mental disorders, and diseases related to the immune system.
According to researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the transition to daylight saving time increases the risk of heart attack by 5% in the first week, with the highest increase in the number of heart attacks being observed in the first three days. Switching to winter time, on the other hand, reduces the risk, but to a lesser extent. For the study, researchers analyzed heart attack statistics in Sweden since 1987, when the country introduced daylight saving time. Scientists in the U.S. and Canada have found a link between the changeover to DST and the number of traffic accidents, but these findings are not supported by studies by Finnish and Swedish scientists. A 2017 study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics claimed that the switch to DST caused more than 30 deaths at a societal cost of $275 million per year, mostly due to sleep deprivation. According to some data, the change of time is correlated with a decrease in economic efficiency, and in 2000, the cost of switching to daylight saving time on US stock exchanges in one day amounted to 31 billion dollars. However, not everyone agrees with these conclusions: some argue that the results depend on the methodology used. Proponents of DST argue that a later onset of darkness at the end of the working day encourages people to consume goods and services more actively. The correlation between DST and crime rates has not been reliably established – and even if it exists, it does not seem to play a significant role in crime statistics.