REASONS TO LOOK FORWARD TO THE CLOCKS CHANGING REASONS TO LOOK FORWARD TO THE CLOCKS CHANGING

As we welcome in March, we can happily say that spring is right around the corner. The winter weather is finally giving way to warmer winds, greener trees and brighter evenings. It really does represent a turning point in our country, as we step out of the cosy yet dreary winter and into longer, sunnier days. We consider spring to be a time for optimism and new—or revisited—beginnings. There is plenty to look forward to in this next stage of our calendar year, starting the moment we put our clocks forward on 26th March at 1am. Here are just a few of the reasons we’re excited for it!

Evening Exercise

One of our favourite things about entering British Summer Time is the extra sunlight we receive in the evenings. There’s no better time than the early evening on a sunny day, when the golden hour can be observed in full. Seeing leaves, fields and even built areas draped in golden sunlight is very motivating for us—it provides the perfect conditions for exercising in the evening! If you haven’t tried running in the evenings at this time of year, we highly recommend it. Unless it’s been a real scorcher of a day, the temperature tends to dip just a little bit around 5 –6pm, allowing for a really comfortable run. If your exercise routine has suffered over the autumn and winter period, this month would be a great time to start it back up again. There should even be some organised runs and races popping up in the evenings over the next few months, which are both great motivation and a lot of fun—plus they make you appreciate dinner even more!

More Time

Let’s expand upon the point about exercise and celebrate all the other activities we can now do with an extra hour of sunlight! It’ll soon be the case that even those of us who finish work late will be able to enjoy some daylight hours. This means we will feel much happier leaving the house to attend local events like gigs and shows, or even to visit family members who live further away. What’s more, it has been proven that entering British Summer Time has a greatly positive effect on our kids’ activity levels. During Daylight Saving, it’s often already getting dark by the time they leave school, which leaves no opportunity for them to safely meet up with friends to play or hang out. Now, however, they’ll be able to spend a lot of time after school with friends, which will directly or indirectly increase the amount of exercise they do.

Relief From Sad

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a very prominent issue in our society, yet not many people are aware of it or acknowledge it in themselves. SAD affects our mental health, and causes significant dips in mood at certain times in the year. This can happen at any time, depending on the person, however winter is the most common time of year for people to experience the deep depressive periods. The popular theory behind this is due to the absence of daylight in the mornings and evenings—especially for those who work traditional hours. Exposure to natural daylight has been concretely linked to mental health, so to put it loosely darker days equals lower moods. Luckily, this season is almost over, and we can start looking forward to brighter mornings and evenings. Alongside the mental health benefits of sunlight, we often feel encouraged to get out of bed earlier, which always helps to make days feel productive—except the first day of BST of course, because we really do miss that hour of sleep!

Meals Outside

Depending on how the weather treats us we might be jumping the gun on this one, but we’re sure there’s going to be at least a few days soon where we can bring mealtimes outside. There’s no better way to spend a warm evening than serving up a lot of different dishes and letting your family load their plates while sitting at your garden table. Just make sure to keep anything you want to be warm in the kitchen still—we can’t fully trust British spring to stay warm all night. If you’ve never tried dining outside, we highly recommend it! It is a surprisingly tranquil experience, with the sounds of the world offering a lovely backdrop to a delicious meal.