Morocco’s permanent return to Greenwich Mean Time on Sunday should require little medical adjustment for most healthy people, doctors told Hespress, although people sensitive to changes in sleep schedules may benefit from easing into the new timetable over several days.
Taib Hamdi, a physician and health-policy researcher, said the immediate biological effect amounts to a one-hour shift and is unlikely to differ substantially from previous clock changes simply because Morocco has spent years on GMT+1.
Morocco has also temporarily returned to GMT during Ramadan in recent years, meaning the change itself is not unfamiliar to residents.
Hamdi said the larger question concerns the long-term relationship between legal time, work and school schedules, and the natural cycle of daylight.
The body’s circadian clock regulates sleep, wakefulness, hormones, body temperature, appetite, concentration and mood, he said, with morning light playing a central role in keeping that internal clock synchronized.
For people particularly sensitive to changes in sleep timing, Hamdi recommended delaying bedtime and waking time by about 15 to 20 minutes a day for two or three days, while gradually adjusting meal and activity schedules.
He also advised maintaining regular sleep hours, getting natural light in the morning, limiting bright light and screens late at night and avoiding compensating for disruption by staying up later.
Hamdi cautioned against claiming that GMT would automatically reduce specific illnesses in Morocco, saying there were no broad Moroccan studies allowing such effects to be quantified.
General practitioner Lahnach Charaf described the return to GMT as a positive health choice and said daily routines, particularly meals and sleep, should be adjusted progressively.
He recommended eating dinner earlier where possible to preserve an appropriate bedtime, but said no special medical measures were needed for the transition.
For most healthy adults, Hamdi said, moving the clock back by one hour is generally easier for the body than moving it forward.
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