Europe has a very peculiar relationship with time – a problem you can also encounter in the US, but not to the same extent. Twice a year, Polish people have to either advance their clocks and watches or set them back by one hour, on the last Sunday of March and October respectively. Why do they do that and how does that affect you as a foreigner?

Obligatory time change

Summer Time was introduced in Europe during World War I in order to save energy. Poland initially joined in only to discontinue the practice later, but since 1977 it has been adopted back and continues to apply every half a year, along with all European countries (except for Iceland and Poland’s neighbours, Belarus and Russia). At the same time now, however, Poland is one of the main advocates for the abandonment of the practice.

Why should it be stopped?

Polish politicians along with their colleagues from Finland and other countries largely support the discontinuation of daylight saving time. A series of experts have spoken about the negative effect of Summer Time on human bodies. Apparently switching back and forth to different time zones lowers productivity, causes sleeping disorders and other health-related issues, including increased stroke risk. There are also economic reasons to abandon moving our clocks back and forth. Summer Time was invented in the era when electricity was used in a different manner than now and time changes do not necessarily make such a difference in cost-cutting. It does, however, cause chaos in the schedules of planes, trains, or buses, for instance.

Make sure you switch!

Nevertheless, as long as the practice is legally binding, Poland observes it twice a year.

On the last Sunday of March, electronic devices in Poland should automatically go one hour forward, from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., and therefore losing 60 minutes. If you own a traditional clock or watch, you should make the change manually. In 2018 the change to Summer Time is on 25 March, in 2019 on 31 March, and in 2020 on 29 March.

We switch back to regular time on the last Sunday of October, thus ending Summer Time. Electronic devices should go back one hour, from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m., so that we get 60 minutes of extra sleep. Similar to the previous change, it should be done manually on devices that cannot be programmed to switch automatically. In 2018 the backward change will take place on 28 October, in 2019 on 27 October, and in 2020 on 25 October.

But who knows, maybe those daylight saving time changes will not survive until 2020? Are you for or against this debate over Summer Time?