Signalling the start of the darker winter months, October also brings the changing of the clocks.
This month the clocks will go back on the 25th – the last Sunday in October - putting the UK on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and crucially translating into a glorious extra hour in bed.
It heralds the end of British Summer Time (BST), which was marked by the clocks going forward on 29 March.
Sometimes known as Daylight Saving Time (DST), it means longer (and hopefully sunnier) days and warmer temperatures.
It'll soon be time for an extra hour in bed!
Next year the clocks will spring forward on 27 March and back again on 30 October.
The time change can affect the body’s circadian rhythm (the body clock that controls mood, energy levels and alertness over a 24-hour period) and can cause stress as the body struggles to adjust.
“The internal clocks in each cell can prepare it for stress or a stimulus. When time moves forward, cell clocks are anticipating another hour to sleep that they won't get, and the negative impact of the stress worsens; it has a much more detrimental effect on the body,” Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, Sleep and Energy Coach at Capio Nightingale Hospital, told HuffPost UK Lifestyle.
Happily, researchers found that these risks reverse once the clocks go back again for winter in October.
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Debate over the effects of turning the clocks back (and forth) has been a British pastime for more than a century, when the first Daylight Saving Bill was brought before the House of Commons.
During the Second World War the Government moved the clocks forward one hour to help munitions factories maximise productivity and allow people to get home safely before the blackout.
Between 1968 and 1971 the Government carried out the same experiment but was forced to end it after complaints in Scotland and northern England.
Plans have also been mooted to move to Central European Time - something that would mean lighter winter evenings, which supporters claim would cut road deaths, boost tourism and reduce energy use.
