Along with regular tea drinking, my days as a child were also punctuated by daily doses of radio 4. Having listened to this channel so much as a child I developed a taste for it and often tune in whilst in the car or doing chores at home. This evening I tuned in just in time to hear an episode of 'A history of the world in one hundred objects' which this week was talking about clocks.
This might not sound that interesting to most of you, but the advent of time keeping had a profound effect on daily life. Instead of structuring a day based on sunrise and sunset, schedules became based on time which doesn't vary with the seasons, with the exception of the silly one hour adjustment for british summertime. For most people this meant rising, retiring and eating all meals at the same time every day.
Whilst the advent of time keeping was a huge step forward, I think the resulting disconnect between our activities and the sun, and therefore seasons, was a negative consequence.
During the winter, when the days are shorter and colder, our energy is less, our bodies are less relaxed and we are more prone to infections so we'd all benefit from getting more sleep. Whilst in the summer most people tend to feel more relaxed and energised by the sun and are less likely to get ill.
Once the clocks go back you'd have to have a pretty understanding boss to be getting up after sunrise, but I do think it is beneficial to try and rise and retire as closer to sunrise and sunset than most of us do. In winter this means getting more sleep but in the summer you may want to try getting up half an hour earlier than usual (and going to bed half an hour earlier) - without changing the amount of sleep you may find you feel more energized.
Coincidentally next week the programme covers a tea set and the origins of the English tea drinking tradition!
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