People! This is the 10th chapter of psychoSoph! 🎉 Thanks for reading along this far! I’m taking this milestone as an opportunity to make a small change. Many of you have told me that the black text on the dark speech bubbles is hard to read. After asking you on social media, it is clear: you prefer white text, so that is how it is in the new comic (I might tweak the dark pink again in the future)! Do also let me know with a comment, whether you still like it now that you can see it in the comic or if you think the black color is better after all.
Just in time for the day we change our clocks in October 2026, I made a comic on daylight saving time or you. Did you know that the EU Parliament has already voted to abolish the requirement for daylight saving time? I actually did not know that before I did my research for this chapter.
Here is also some information that did not make it into the chapter:
- You might have heard of larks (early risers) and owls (people who sleep longer). In fact, these so-called chronotypes also influence how people cope with the time change. Owls, e.g., seem to have greater difficulty adjusting to the social clock when the time changes. It also appears that social jet lag is more severe for them (and for people who live more toward the western edge of their time zone).
- The comic describes many negative effects of daylight saving time. Interestingly, however, there also seems to be a positive aspect: During daylight saving time, the crime rate seems to drop slightly. This is likely because the extra hour of daylight in the evening makes it harder to hide crimes such as burglaries.
By the way, I have already written a scicomm short story called “Spaceport” for Science & Fiction about daylight saving time, in which you can follow the two police officers, Alex and Olli, as they respond to an accident on the day of the time change. The short story is based on the New Zealand study on traffic accidents, which is also featured in this comic. I would be really happy if you would check it out, too.
Last but not least, I am always happy when you support psychoSoph. For example, you can give me a one-time tip on Ko-fi or sign up for a membership there to get access to extra content. There is also psychoSoph merch on Redbubble. By supporting me, you help me cover the costs of the website, the domains, and the email address I use for the newsletter. In other words, you’re helping me keep psychoSoph up and running! And maybe I will even end up with a cup of coffee that I can sip while I draw! 😊 Be sure to tell your family, friends, and coworkers, too, and follow and interact with psychoSoph on social media so that more people learn about the comic!
References
- Blume, C., & Schabus, M. (2020). Perspective: Daylight Saving Time—An Advocacy for a Balanced View and against Fanning Fear.
- EUR-Lex (2018) COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON EU SUMMERTIME ARRANGEMENTS REPORT OF RESULTS Accompanying the Document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council Discontinuing Seasonal Changes of Time and Repealing Directive 2000/84/EC.
- Council of the European Union. (2024). Timeline (Seasonal Clock Changes in the EU).
- Dorsch Lexikon der Psychologie. (2019). Zirkadiane Rhythmik.
- European Biological Rhythms Society (EBRS), European Sleep Research Society (ESRS), & Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR). (2019). To the EU Commission on DST [Brief].
- European Commission. (2019). Summertime—Mobility and Transport.
- European Parliament. (2019). Could switching between summer and winter time end in 2021?
- Janszky, I., & Ljung, R. (2008). Shifts to and from daylight saving time and incidence of myocardial infarction.
- Kantermann, T., Juda, M., Merrow, M., & Roenneberg, T. (2007). The Human Circadian Clock’s Seasonal Adjustment Is Disrupted by Daylight Saving Time.
- Kornberg, S., Gundersen, M., & Buckle, A. (2026). Is the Sun Setting on DST in the EU?
- Levandovski, R., Dantas, G., Fernandes, L. C., Caumo, W., Torres, I., Roenneberg, T., Hidalgo, M. P. L., & Allebrandt, K. V. (2011). Depression Scores Associate With Chronotype and Social Jetlag in a Rural Population.
- Manfredini, R., Fabbian, F., De Giorgi, A., Zucchi, B., Cappadona, R., Signani, F., Katsiki, N., & Mikhailidis, D. P. (2018). Daylight saving time and myocardial infarction: Should we be worried? A review of the evidence.
- Neumann, P., & von Blanckenburg, K. (2025). What time will it be? A comprehensive literature review on daylight saving time.
- Reid, S. (2018). The Thunder Bay Connection to Daylight Savings Time. | Northern Ontario Travel.
- Rishi, M. A., Ahmed, O., Barrantes Perez, J. H., Berneking, M., Dombrowsky, J., Flynn-Evans, E. E., Santiago, V., Sullivan, S. S., Upender, R., Yuen, K., Abbasi-Feinberg, F., Aurora, R. N., Carden, K. A., Kirsch, D. B., Kristo, D. A., Malhotra, R. K., Martin, J. L., Olson, E. J., Ramar, K., … Gurubhagavatula, I. (2020). Daylight saving time: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement.
- Rishi, M. A., Cheng, J. Y., Strang, A. R., Sexton-Radek, K., Ganguly, G., Licis, A., Flynn-Evans, E. E., Berneking, M. W., Bhui, R., Creamer, J., Kundel, V., Namen, A. M., Spector, A. R., Olaoye, O., Hashmi, S. D., Abbasi-Feinberg, F., Abreu, A. R., Gurubhagavatula, I., Kapur, V. K., … Sullivan, S. S. (2024). Permanent standard time is the optimal choice for health and safety: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement.
- Robb, D., & Barnes, T. (2018). Accident rates and the impact of daylight saving time transitions.
- Roenneberg, T., Winnebeck, E. C., & Klerman, E. B. (2019). Daylight Saving Time and Artificial Time Zones – A Battle Between Biological and Social Times.
- Roenneberg, T., Wirz-Justice, A., Skene, D. J., Ancoli-Israel, S., Wright, K. P., Dijk, D.-J., Zee, P., Gorman, M. R., Winnebeck, E. C., & Klerman, E. B. (2019). Why Should We Abolish Daylight Saving Time?
