LONDON — The days have looked the same for much of the last few months, but things are set to change with sunshine fast approaching. British summer time officially starts at 1 a.m. on Sunday, March 28, when we all lose an hour of sleep but gain sunlight.

Nationwide lockdown restrictions meant that the opportunities to seize the minimal hours of daylight were few and far between, but finally Brits can start to leave that challenging period in the past.

The official beginning of British Summer Time (BST) will mean that clocks will go forward this Sunday in the early hours of the morning. Clocks will move forward by one hour.

The change will take place on Sunday, March 28, and will see the time jump forward by an hour and change from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.

The changing of the clocks is set to line up perfectly with the easing of lockdown restrictions. From Monday (March 29), people will be allowed to meet outdoors with one other household or in a group of six.

This means we will unfortunately lose an hour of sleep on Sunday — but ultimately gain much-needed lighter evenings and longer days.

However, there is a notable downside to the change of time. An hour of sleep will be lost going into Sunday, which could have the knock on effect of tiredness for the week ahead.

According to The Guardian, those who are worried about losing an hour of sleep would be wise to have an early night tonight to give minimize the impact of the clocks changing.

With the exception of feeling a little bit sleepier, the clock change will bring in a period of extended sunshine and offer a glimpse into what the summer ahead could look like.

Even though the clock change happens twice a year, there are always a group of unfortunate people who are caught off guard and end up running late for their plans on the day.

The ritual of changing the clocks is a relatively recent invention. Time was only standardized in the UK with the coming of the railways, and it was in 1880 that Greenwich mean time was adopted as a legal standard.

The Summer Time Act 1916, in the middle of the World War I, introduced the concept of shifting the clocks twice a year to the UK. This was in response to Germany moving its clocks forwards in an attempt to save fuel for the war effort by reducing the need for lighting during longer, brighter evenings.

Many countries have been re-evaluating the practice. The European parliament recently voted to scrap it at an EU level, leaving it up to national governments to decide. It could potentially lead to a time zone split on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at some points of the year.

Those of you with transAtlantic connections are likely aware that the US already moved to its daylight savings time (DST) on March 14 — so there is a fortnight where the time zone gap between the east coast of the US and the UK is four hours rather than the five we are usually accustomed to.

Like the EU, some areas of the US are also having second thoughts. There have been repeated attempts by state legislatures in recent years to pass bills scrapping the concept of changing the clocks, and instead moving on to permanent daylight savings time.

This would require approval from Congress, as they want to opt out of the Uniform Time Act of 1966 that established DST across the nation.

Back in the UK, you will get your lost hour’s sleep back when the clocks change again. This year BST ends on Sunday, Oct. 31, when the clocks go back again, potentially confusing spooks and ghosts on Halloween. — Agencies