You’re standing on a terrace in Lisbon or maybe a sidewalk cafe in London. It’s 9:30 PM in late June. The sun is only just starting to dip behind the horizon, painting the sky in colors that don't seem real. This is the magic of Western European Summer Time. But for every person enjoying that extra hour of evening light, there’s someone else grumbling about their alarm clock or a toddler who refuses to sleep because "it’s still daytime out."
It’s a weird system. Honestly, the more you look into how we coordinate clocks across the continent, the more it feels like a relic of a different era. We call it WEST. Technically, it’s UTC+1. It’s the seasonal shift that defines the rhythm of life for millions of people in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, the Canary Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Madeira.
The transition usually happens on the last Sunday of March. We "spring forward." Everyone loses an hour of sleep, and for about three days, the entire workforce of Western Europe is slightly more irritable than usual. Then, on the last Sunday of October, we "fall back" to Western European Time (WET), which is just UTC+0.
What exactly is Western European Summer Time?
Basically, WEST is the daylight saving time (DST) arrangement for the westernmost part of Europe. While most of the mainland—think France, Germany, and Italy—operates on Central European Summer Time (CEST), the Atlantic fringe stays an hour behind.
It hasn't always been this way.
The history of shifting clocks is messy. It’s rooted in the First World War. Countries needed to save coal. By pushing the clocks forward, people used less artificial light in the evenings. It was a matter of national survival, not leisure. After the war, many countries dropped it, only to bring it back during the Second World War or the energy crisis of the 1970s.
Today, it’s more about lifestyle and synchronization. If you're a business in London trading with Lisbon, you’re on the same clock. That matters. If you’re a tourist hopping from Dublin to Porto, you don’t have to change your watch. But the "why" behind it is getting harder to justify to a public that is increasingly tired of the biannual ritual.
The great timezone divide
Have you ever noticed how weird the map of Europe looks when you overlay the timezones? Spain is the biggest anomaly. Geographically, Spain should be in the same timezone as Portugal and the UK. It sits almost entirely west of the Prime Meridian. Yet, Spain observes Central European Time.
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Why? Because in 1940, Francisco Franco moved Spain’s clocks forward to align with Nazi Germany. It was a political gesture that stuck. For decades, Spaniards have lived "out of sync" with the sun, leading to those famous late-night dinners and adjusted work schedules.
Meanwhile, Portugal tried switching to Central European Time in the 1990s. It was a disaster. People hated it. Kids were walking to school in pitch-black darkness in the winter. The government eventually admitted defeat and moved back to the Western European Time cycle. It turns out that being in the "wrong" timezone messes with the human circadian rhythm more than we'd like to admit.
The health toll of the "Spring Forward"
Scientists aren't exactly fans of the switch. Dr. Till Roenneberg, a renowned chronobiologist, has argued for years that the social clock (what our watches say) and the biological clock (what our cells say) are increasingly at odds.
When we shift to Western European Summer Time in March, we are effectively forcing our bodies into a permanent state of minor jet lag for six months.
- Heart attack rates have been shown to spike on the Monday following the spring transition.
- Traffic accidents increase because drivers are sleep-deprived.
- Workplace productivity takes a noticeable dip, often dubbed "cyberloafing," where employees spend more time browsing the web because they’re too tired to focus.
The "extra hour of light" feels like a gift, but we pay for it in cortisol and grogginess. The body doesn't just "adjust" in a day. For some people, particularly those with existing sleep disorders, the shift to WEST can throw their hormones out of whack for weeks.
Economic myths vs. reality
The old argument was that DST saved energy. In 1975, that might have been true. We used incandescent bulbs that ate electricity. Today, we have LEDs. We have air conditioning.
Modern research, including studies by the European Commission, suggests the energy savings are negligible. In some cases, energy use actually increases because people stay out later, drive more, and run their AC during the hotter evening hours.
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There is, however, a massive benefit for the tourism and retail sectors.
Think about it. If the sun sets at 9 PM instead of 8 PM, you’re more likely to stay out for that second glass of wine. You’re more likely to walk through a shopping district. The "outdoor economy" in places like the Algarve or the coast of Ireland thrives on those long summer evenings. For the travel industry, WEST is a billion-euro asset.
Will Europe ever stop changing the clocks?
In 2018, the European Commission surveyed millions of EU citizens. A staggering 84% wanted to stop the clock changes. The plan was to scrap the biannual switch by 2021.
Then, reality hit.
The EU couldn't decide which time to keep. Should we stay on permanent Summer Time or permanent Winter Time? If the UK (now outside the EU) kept the switch and Ireland didn't, there would be a time difference between Belfast and Dublin for half the year. That’s a logistical nightmare for a border that is supposed to be seamless.
Then came COVID-19. Then the war in Ukraine. The "clock change" issue was pushed to the bottom of the pile. It’s currently in a state of political limbo. No one wants to be the one to make the call and deal with the inevitable backlash from the side that loses their preferred light schedule.
What to do when the clocks change
If you’re living in or traveling to a region using Western European Summer Time, you can’t change the law, but you can change your habits.
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Don't wait until Sunday morning to adjust. Start going to bed 15 minutes earlier each night for the four days leading up to the switch in March. When you wake up on that first Sunday of WEST, get outside immediately. Sunlight is the strongest cue for your internal clock to reset.
Also, skip the heavy caffeine on Monday. Your heart is already under a bit of stress from the shift; adding a double espresso at 4 PM isn't going to help the transition.
Practical insights for your next trip
If you are planning a trip to London, Dublin, or Lisbon during the summer months, keep these things in mind:
- Sunset Times: In June, the sun doesn't set until nearly 10 PM in some of these northern latitudes. If you have trouble sleeping in the light, make sure your hotel has blackout curtains.
- Dinner Reservations: In Portugal, the shift to WEST means people eat late. Don't expect a bustling restaurant atmosphere at 6 PM. Aim for 8:30 PM.
- Flight Schedules: Always double-check your boarding passes on the weekend of the switch. Most systems update automatically, but manual "local time" mentions on itineraries can sometimes lead to confusion.
- The "Gap" with Europe: Remember that when the UK/Portugal are on WEST, they are usually on the same time as the Canary Islands but one hour behind Paris, Madrid, and Berlin.
Western European Summer Time is a strange compromise between geography, politics, and the desire for long summer nights. It’s a quirk of history that we’ve all just agreed to live with, at least for now. While the debate over its existence continues in the halls of power in Brussels and London, the rest of us will just keep enjoying those 10 PM sunsets—and reaching for an extra coffee the morning after the clocks move.
Next Steps for Managing the Time Change
To minimize the impact of the shift to Western European Summer Time on your health and schedule, you should focus on light hygiene. During the first week of the transition, dim your indoor lights significantly two hours before bed to encourage melatonin production. Use a sunrise alarm clock to simulate natural light in the morning, which helps suppress melatonin and wakes up your brain more gently than a standard phone alarm. For those traveling across time zones into the WEST region, use an app like Timeshifter to calculate exactly when to seek and avoid light based on your specific flight path. This proactive approach turns a jarring systemic change into a manageable personal transition.