Summer is on the horizon and this year it will coincide with another annual date on the calendar - Mother's Day.

By now many of you will have made plans for how you will celebrate Mother's Day, which always falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent - whether it's a family meal or a special treat out to a restaurant.

The key point will be to make sure you change your clocks the night before as you go to bed - unless of course they self-update.

You may run the risk of turning up an hour late to your meal and if you have booked a table this could prove disastrous or have everyone turning up at two different times.

When the clocks will change

Remember the saying spring forward!
Remember the saying spring forward!

The clocks move forward one hour in the early hours of Sunday, March 31 at precisely 1am - signalling the start of British summertime and a bit more evening daylight but darker mornings. The process of clocks changing twice annually has taken place for over 100 years since 1916, when Parliament passed the Summer Time Act

The flip side means you will lose an hour's sleep - which perhaps isn't the best gift for mothers across the UK on their special day.

Why do the clocks change?

William Willett was an early advocate of changing the clocks for summer
William Willett was an early advocate of changing the clocks for summer

The clock change was first introduced during the First World War by Germany and Austria, and then by the Allies, to save on coal usage.

British businessman William Willett is also credited with the idea in 1907 - he wanted to advance the clocks by 80 minutes via four incremental sets of 20 minutes during April and reverse it in September.

It was rejected in 1908 by the House of Commons. But in 1916 the Summer Time Act was passed. During the Second World War, double summer time (GMT + 2 hours) was used.

In recent years there have been calls to scrap it.

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How to prepare your body clock


  • Practice good sleep hygiene. Create a sleep-friendly environment that enhances your chances of falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. This includes a cool temperature (around 16-18 degrees) and eliminating distractions (i.e. banning mobiles, tablets etc. in the hour before bed).
  • Try not to overindulge in caffeine, food and alcohol over the clock change weekend, as these all have a negative impact on sleep.
  • If you can't sleep, don't lie there worrying about it. Get up and do something you find relaxing such as reading a book until you feel sleepy again - then go back to bed.

When is the next one?

For those who like to plan ahead, the clocks will go back again on Sunday, October 27 at 2am, taking the UK back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is the standard time zone against which all other time zones in the world are referenced.