Switching to winter time: where to change the clock and what you need to know about this day. When do the clocks change? When to change to daylight saving time

The first talk about changing clocks to winter or summer time was more than a century ago in England. It was noticed that during daylight hours people work more productively, and after sunset the performance of even the most zealous worker decreases significantly, because every person’s body perceives the dark time of day as a signal to sleep. In order to influence the work of citizens and enable them to fully function for most of the day, it was decided to move the clocks back 1 hour in winter and forward an hour in summer.

Will it be necessary to change clocks in Russia in 2017?

Despite the fact that the State Duma of the Russian Federation constantly raises the issue of returning the tradition of changing clocks, there are still no real prerequisites for a return to this practice. Which means There will be no need to change the clocks in Russia in 2017.

Changing the clock - as it was before

President Benjamin Franklin was the first to put the clock into practice. After positive results, most civilized countries were inclined to this process. In 1917, the clock hands in our state were moved for the first time. However, due to frequent changes of power and other difficulties, the USSR for a long time could not find the strength to control the process of counting time, therefore, until the thirtieth year of the last century, the country was completely plunged into temporal chaos. But in 1930, the Soviets were able to bring this issue to its logical conclusion. A decision was made: on the territory of the USSR, time would be 1 hour ahead of standard time; the so-called time zone was established. maternity time, which was used for many years and which was officially abolished on March 31, 1991.

Changing clocks in modern Russia

After the collapse of the Union, maternity time was restored in Russia again, as a result of which, on January 19, 1992, all clocks throughout the Russian Federation were moved forward 1 hour. Subsequently, in the period from 1992 to 2002, some regions of the Russian Federation (Novosibirsk region, Altai Territory, Sakhalin and Tomsk regions) switched to the neighboring western time zone.

As for the seasonal change of clocks in the Russian Federation, in the period from 1985 to 1995. Clocks were changed to summer and winter time, respectively, on the last Sunday of March and September, and in the period from 1996 to 2010 - on the last Sunday of March and October.

With the advent of the 2000s, people in the Russian Federation began to talk about the inappropriateness of switching the needles, because this disrupts the vital rhythms in the body. It turned out that to fully adapt to the new time, the body needs about a month, and a person spends this period fighting stress. Therefore, in 2011 in Russia there was completely seasonal clock change canceled, while the entire country remained on permanent summer time, but for a number of reasons, already in October 2014, the country again switched from permanent summer to permanent winter time (zone standard), which is still in effect today (see).

When do the clocks change in Ukraine?

It should be noted that Ukraine annually does not forget to move the hands back or forward an hour depending on the season. In 2017, clocks in Ukraine will be switched to summer time on the last Sunday of March – 26th (at 3:00). The clock should be set forward an hour. To switch to winter time and move the hands back 1 hour, you should wait the last Sunday in October, which in 2017 falls on the 29th (at 4:00).

The concept of winter and summer time appeared in our everyday life more than a century ago. It arose as a result of the promotion of Benjamin Franklin's idea of ​​​​saving energy resources by moving the clock hands forward and backward. Now we are accustomed to the fact that twice a year we have to get used to a new daily routine for some time, but a hundred years ago such innovations faced serious resistance and misunderstanding of people. So, why exactly do we need to change the clocks, and will the hands change in 2017?

Development of the idea of ​​changing clocks

The innovators of this event were the British, who first made the transition to summer and winter time in 1908. Ten years later, the Americans joined them, and today residents of almost eight dozen countries around the world resort to changing the hands. Russia first resorted to such a transition in the summer of 1917, however, due to constant changes in power, the order of transferring the switches could hardly be called regular.

The turbulent times were not conducive to making clear decisions, so by the thirties, complete temporary chaos had formed in the country. They returned to solving this issue already in the times of the USSR, when in 1930, according to a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the hands were moved forward an hour and finally stopped this practice for many years. The country remained living 1 hour ahead of the natural daily cycle. In the early eighties, the state reintroduced the practice of summer and winter time.

Changeover to summer time (1 hour ahead) will take place on March 26, 2017

This continued until November 2009, when a decree of President Dmitry Medvedev raised the question of the advisability of following global time trends. For a long time, parliamentarians could not decide what time the country would live in, but since 2014, Russia has decided to finally abandon the clock change. By the way, this is not only Russian practice. For example, in Georgia in 2005 they also decided to abandon summer and winter time; Belarusians, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Tajiks no longer change their hands.

As an argument, the position was expressed that changes in lifestyle, which occur twice a year, negatively affect the health and nerves of Russians, leading to sleep disturbances, disruption of the cardiac system and similar negative consequences.

Clock change in 2017 in Russia

In 2017, Russia remains to live in the same regime, excluding the change of clocks. Although everything can still change - it was not without reason that in 2016, government members began to hear talk that in a couple of years the country could resume the one-hour transition procedure. For example, according to Veronica Skvortsova, who holds the post of Minister of Health, this practice is absolutely not a health risk.

To date, deputies of the Kaliningrad Duma have already prepared a draft law, which will be submitted for national consideration. This document contains provisions that the clock change needs to be resumed for a very specific purpose: to make more efficient use of daylight hours.

Clock change in 2017 in Ukraine

In Ukraine, the clock change will be carried out as usual and will occur on the last Sunday in March, 03/26/2017 (at this time, residents of the country will move the hands forward 1 hour). On the last weekend in October, October 29, 2017, a transition to winter time will take place (on this day the clock hands should be moved back 1 hour).

The change of clocks at the state level is due to the optimization of the use of daylight hours in relation to the completion of a greater volume of work and the saving of electrical energy required for lighting. The definitions of “summer” and “winter” time are conditional and require clarification.

Daylight saving time is established by moving the national time forward one hour, which occurs in the spring and continues until the fall. Daylight Saving Time is established by setting the nation-wide time back to local standard time by moving clock hands back one hour from "daylight saving" time. It is worth noting that standard local time (winter), fixed at the state level, may differ slightly from geographic solar time, determined by the coordinates of the object. For example, when it is 12:00 in Moscow, it is 11:53 in Voronezh. However, these nuances are not taken into account in order to avoid confusion within the same time zone.

On the territory of Russia, the first time change was carried out in 1917. And on the eve of the anniversary of this significant date, a rumor appeared that there would be a new time change in 2017 one hour ahead. In this regard, there was a need to clarify this issue and provide our readers with the most objective information.

Changing clocks to summer and winter time: reasons for the appearance of information about the likelihood of this event

• As mentioned above, in 2017, the first of August marks the anniversary of the first time change in the USSR. In Russia there is a high tendency towards symbolism at the state and private level, which is associated with numerous periods of crossroads and revolutions that did not allow stabilizing an adequate perception of reality.
• Twice reform of time transfer within one decade of the 21st century, which also leads to instability regarding this issue in the minds of ordinary citizens. Transition to permanent summer time in 2011 and transition to permanent winter time in 2014. In some regions (Transbaikalia and Magadan) in 2014, the translation was carried out two hours ago. The latter was necessary to return to standard local time in connection with the additional “maternity hour” introduced in 1930.
• In some regions, in 2014, they refused to change clocks to standard local time: Kamchatka, Chukotka, Kemerovo, Udmurtia, Samara.
• In 2016, bills were filed in a number of regions to return to daylight saving time or change clocks. Some of them were approved and accepted for execution.
• As a result, the transition to summer and winter time in 2017 became an excellent topic for online discussions, where a corresponding rumor was started, which later migrated into reality.

Objective information about time change in 2017

• There are no bills at the federal level that would require a time change in 2017.
• At the regional level, according to data from October 2016, there are no bills providing for a time change in 2017.
• At the official level, there have been no statements about the possibility of creating bills at the federal level that would change clocks in 2017.

Predictions regarding the clock change issue in 2017

• The majority of the population of the Russian Federation perceived the initiative to reform the issue of time change negatively in 2011 and 2014. The third bill could provoke even greater indignation, which is politically disadvantageous given the upcoming presidential elections in Russia.
• The primary source of information among the media was the Internet, which indicates a high probability of a “duck”, since the reliability of the information on most Internet portals cannot be verified.
• Single bills at the regional level, initiated by local government or the population, are possible. The practice of 2016 showed the relevance of such bills.

Thus, with a 95% probability, there will be no clock change at the federal level, and at the regional level, isolated precedents are possible, but unlikely.

Chronology of time change in the USSR and the Russian Federation

06/01/1917 - the first clock change in the USSR was carried out one hour forward.

06/27/1917 - government decree on changing clocks.

08/31/1917 - it was planned to change the clocks to return to standard time.

12/27/1917 - an actual transfer was carried out one hour back to return to standard time.

1924 – refusal to change clocks.

1930 – change of clocks to summer time, which remained until 1981: the period of maternity time.

04/01/81 – time change forward one hour in relation to maternity time.

1982-1991 - abandonment of the maternity time period and the beginning of the transition of clocks to summer and winter time in relation to standard time.

2011 – transition to daylight saving time with the abandonment of subsequent transfers.

2014 – transition to standard time with the abandonment of subsequent transfers.

The metamorphosis with the changing of clock hands in Russia in the past years has perhaps confused everyone, and perhaps no one knows what to expect from the government in this regard. Whether there will be a time change in 2017 or not, whether it will happen throughout the country or will again affect only certain regions - we will find out in more detail.

History of clock changes in the country

Apparently not finding more important things to do in a war-ravaged country that had lost the system of governance that had been in place for centuries, the provisional government in the summer of 1917, for the first time in the history of the state, moved the clock hands forward one hour.

The Bolsheviks, having barely come to power and slightly stunned by this fact, still did not forget to issue a decree and return everything as it was, rewinding time an hour ago. Rapid industrialization in a state that was still extremely poor gave rise in 1930 to the idea of ​​​​changing clocks to daylight saving time in order to save energy resources for lighting. Nothing changed until 1981, when for some reason the time was moved forward one hour, which was abandoned a year later and everything was returned as it had been since 1930.

Finally, some very recent changes. At first, it was decided that changing the hands to winter and summer time does not bring any special savings (finally), but there is much more harm to health, especially for people whose health is weakened, so it is worth abandoning the practice of changing the clocks every year . But for some reason, this completely sensible and convenient initiative was implemented rather hastily and summer time was established “forever”, without taking into account that it differs from astronomical time by as much as two hours, while winter time is only by one hour, that is, better corresponds to both human biorhythms and the elementary beginning and end of daylight hours. As a result, already in 2014, the country changed the clocks again, again “forever” and in order not to touch them, this time returning to permanent winter time. At the same time as the widespread transfer of hands, a reform of time zones was carried out, and some regions moved to a neighboring time zone, which more closely corresponds to the astronomical time in this area.

Will there be a clock change in 2017?

With all this confusion heading into 2017, rumors have once again surfaced that the country is about to change its clocks in 2017. They even remembered the centenary of the events of 1917 and the authorities’ love of finding their legitimacy in the past.

However, you need to understand two simple things. Firstly, the current government in Russia, although it likes to rely on the past, never spared the Bolsheviks in 1917 in its speeches, calling them almost traitors to the country in that situation. The political regime is based rather on the successors of the work of Lenin and Trotsky. Secondly, to carry out a clock change reform in 2017 is to make the government a laughing stock. The country laughed at the time change in 2014, raising this topic again even to divert attention from more pressing issues is not the brightest idea.

In general, summarizing everything said above and relying on official sources, we can say the following:

• There are no projects to change clocks in 2017, or later, at the national level.
• At the level of the constituent entities of the Federation, there are no official plans to change clocks within a particular region.
• Officially, there is not even any idea formalized in the form of a bill to return to the translation of the needles in 2017 or later.

In a word, the rumors remained rumors, behind which there is nothing at all.

Since 2014, “winter” time has been in effect in Russia and there is no longer any need to move the clocks forward and back an hour every year. Nevertheless, the “temporary” issue remains relevant today, because statements about the return of “summer” time are heard every now and then from the lips of various officials.

First of all, entrepreneurs are interested in the translation, who have calculated that in this way they can save up to 4 billion rubles due to more rational consumption of electricity. Given this, interest in the question will there be a return to summer time in Russia in 2018?, does not fade away.

Government officials say that there are no prerequisites for such a transition yet and, most likely, Russians will continue to live according to “winter” time. This decision is supported by doctors and scientists, according to whom, “summer” time disrupts a person’s daily rhythm and negatively affects health. Ordinary citizens also do not welcome the annual change of clocks, remembering the inconveniences and difficulties that it entailed.

A little history

In the USSR, the concepts of “summer” and “winter” time came from the West: the clock hands were first moved in England, then in Germany. For the first time, Russians were introduced to the transition to “summer” time in 1917.

This innovation was actively supported by economists, pointing to the savings in energy resources, but ordinary Russians did not like it. Citizens simply forgot to move the switches on time, which is why they were late for work and faced other troubles.

The transition to “summer” and “winter” time finally took root in 1981, according to a special decree of the USSR government. However, the Russians did not understand the feasibility of such a decision for a long time and could not get used to changing the clocks.

Further “temporary” experiments began already in 2011: according to the instructions of the then Dmitry Medvedev, the transition to “winter” time was canceled.

But this decision did not last long, which was largely influenced by medical research that proved that “summer” time does not coincide with the human circadian rhythm. Living in this regime, people got sick more often and felt worse. Because of this, in 2014, “winter” time was returned, and the Russians again began to prepare to move the hands back an hour. But in the same year, the authorities decided to abandon the transition again, but this time to stick to permanent “winter” time.

Considering that the government has changed its decisions several times and left the issue of switching to daylight saving time open, it is not surprising that citizens are still checking whether they need to change the switch.

Will summer time return to Russia in 2018?

The “temporary” changes of 2011-2014 created doubts in society about the stability of the authorities’ position on this issue. Interest in “summer” time was constantly “fueled” by bills that were supposed to return the annual change of clocks. But none of these initiatives were supported by the government, and in the media officials officially stated that “winter” time in the Russian Federation will remain the only one.

The switch continues to be championed by many in the economic sector, citing the rational use of daylight and potential resource savings. But this opinion is refuted by numerous studies, which prove that the savings are still less than the costs of reconfiguring equipment at enterprises, rearranging the public transport schedule and other expenses associated with switching switches.

The inappropriateness of returning “summer” time is confirmed by medical research. Doctors unanimously say that changing the clock creates an unnecessary shake-up for the body, as a result of which chronic diseases worsen, sleep patterns are disrupted, and attentiveness and concentration are dulled. The result is an increase in accident rates and, again, sick leave costs for enterprise employees.

Pros and cons of changing clocks

Many countries, including Russia, have already abandoned the transition to “summer” time, but opinions on this matter are still different. There are still many supporters of changing the clocks and their arguments are quite weighty. On the other side of the “barricades” there are no less people who consider the annual transition to “winter” and “summer” time unnecessary.

Many representatives of the energy sector considered the abolition of “summer” time too hasty and thoughtless. In their opinion, it is unreasonable to refuse the savings that come with changing clocks, especially today, when the whole world is talking about the need to rationally use energy resources. Energy workers were also outraged by the fact that the authorities made a decision without discussing this issue with them and without giving them the opportunity to prove their position.

Every year there are fewer and fewer adherents of “summer” time, but their number still includes people who, due to their work, are forced to often fly to countries where the clock change is still in effect. Previously, the hands were moved synchronously, and there was no confusion in flights and meeting times, but now you have to constantly take into account what time another state lives by.

Citizens who advocate the most efficient use of daylight hours also complain about the abolition of “summer” time. They believe that the reasons why the USSR decided to move the clocks are still relevant today, and that refusal to switch leads to waste.

It is noteworthy that there are studies that prove that moving the clock forward and back 60 minutes helps to “shake up” the body and switch it into activity mode.

Doctors remain the main opponents of “summer” time. They have repeatedly proven that the need to get up an hour earlier increases fatigue, knocking people out of their usual “rut.” Weather-sensitive citizens and those who have problems with the cardiovascular and nervous systems especially suffer from this.

According to doctors' research, in order to adapt to a new daily routine, a person needs 1-1.5 months, during which he feels worse and is more susceptible to various diseases. During this period, the risk of professional burnout and stress increases.

Interestingly, representatives of the same energy sector are often against the return of “summer” time. According to them, in the European part of the Russian Federation, the volume of energy consumption remains almost unchanged after the clock is changed, so there is no talk of significant savings. Moreover, additional funds have to be spent to reconfigure the equipment.

Even ordinary citizens do not want to return to “summer” time. Due to the clock change, many citizens not only felt worse, but also suffered significant inconvenience, being forced to “adjust” their work schedule to the new conditions.

Although there is still talk of a return to daylight saving time, such an outcome is unlikely. The government has long weighed all the pros and cons, and is in favor of permanent “winter” time. In addition, elections are scheduled in 2018, so it is unlikely that the authorities will want to make another controversial decision during this period, which could cause protests among citizens.