Clocks change 2017 – Average Brits will work TWO extra hours a day when clocks go forward

Clocks going forwards indicates the beginning of summer, with blue skies and light evenings. But as it turns out most Brits don’t look forward to the clocks changing at all.

According to research by lighting specialists Spotlight Direct, the majority of Brits end up putting in even more hours than they do in winter thanks to daylight saving time.

Brits do exactly 2.04 extra hours of work at this time of year.

Apparently this is because when it’s lighter outside we are more reluctant to leave the office, maybe we feel guilty or are just not as keen to get home and into bed.

In fact, less than a quarter of us say we work less during summer hours. And over a third of us (36 per cent) are not actually in favour of Daylight Saving, for a whole host of reasons.

This is mostly down to the darker mornings, which most find thoroughly depressing.

The lighter sky when we try to sleep also means the quality of our shut eye is not as good.

“It would seem that whilst many Brits love the start of BST, for obvious reasons, the time change isn’t always a good thing!” says Andrew Fraser from Spotlight Direct. 

“Clearly there is a link between the lighter evenings and the feeling of having to work longer because of it. Sometimes a cosy evening inside with the family is what you crave after a day at the office.”

So many of us are unenthused about the changing clocks, but do you know why the clocks change?

The idea of setting the clocks ahead was first suggested in an essay by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. 

Over a century later, Englishman William Willett campaigned for the changing of the clocks and published a pamphlet, called the Waste of Daylight, in 1907.

Britain first adopted British Summer Time during World War One in order to save fuel by reducing the need for artificial light. 

Tuesday March 1 is the first day of spring, according to meteorological calendar which is based on the weather. 

Under this system, each of the four seasons have three months with spring lasting from the start of March to the end of May. 

But the first day of spring is not until March 20, according to the astronomical calendar based on the Earth’s orbit of the sun. 

On this date, known as the spring equinox, both day and night are the same length.