Iceland review - 2019, Page 69

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Iceland Review
Words by Ragnar Tómas Hallgrímsson
Photography by Golli

Few issues have garnered as much attention—
and feedback – as the contentious suggestion
to move the Icelandic clock back one hour to
better align with solar time.
“We should let the clock alone,” one
Icelander protests. “It's not the clock's fault that
the Icelanders go to sleep late.” According to a
report commissioned by the Ministry of Health,
however, this may not be true: “Individuals
residing in the westernmost area of a given time
zone go to sleep later and sleep less than indi-
viduals residing more easterly, where the sun
rises earlier.” Additionally, Iceland observes
Greenwich Mean Time, which means that it is
an entire zone to the west of its “correct” geo-
graphical time zone.
Another Icelander, advocating for the status
quo, also ignores these findings: “There is no
problem here, just people with too much free
time on their hands who invent problems and
then 'solutions'.” This too, according to the
report, is not true. On average, Icelanders go to
sleep later than citizens in neighbouring coun-
tries, and Icelandic teenagers sleep less than
their European counterparts. In other words,
the problem is real.