The clocks go back on Sunday, and late afternoon reaches the care home an hour earlier

In the early hours of Saturday 24 into Sunday 25 October 2026, Portugal moves to winter time: at 2:00 on the mainland and in Madeira, clocks go back to 1:00 (in the Azores, 1:00 becomes midnight). The rule is the European Union's — the last Sunday in October — and winter time lasts until 28 March 2027.

For care home staff, the change often comes down to resetting the clock in the lounge and the one on the microwave. For residents living with dementia, the following week can be something else. The clock on the wall says the usual time; the light at the window says otherwise.

What actually changes on Sunday

The shift is one hour, but the effect shows at the end of the day. In Lisbon, the sun sets at around 18:45 on Saturday 24 and around 17:45 on Sunday 25. By the end of October it is around 17:35, and it keeps moving earlier until the solstice in December.

In practice, this means:

• Darkness now arrives before dinner, and in many homes before the afternoon snack is over.
• The end of the afternoon shift happens in the dark, which is when staffing is thinnest and the house is busiest (handover, visitors leaving, dinner being served).
• Garden time and outdoor activities shrink — the subject of our piece on autumn in care homes.

For most people, the body adjusts within a few days. For someone living with dementia, the strongest cue left is often the light, not the clock.

Why late afternoon weighs more in dementia

Many people with dementia become more confused, restless or agitated in the late afternoon and early evening. It is usually called sundowning, and we wrote about it in detail in late-afternoon agitation. The causes are not fully understood; those suggested include the tiredness built up over the day, changes to the body clock, low light and shadows, hunger, pain and the noise of the busiest hour.

The clock change brings several of these together at once. The light drops earlier, the person's internal routine stays on the old time for a few days, and the house's busiest moment now coincides with darkness. Organisations such as Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer Scotland remind families every year that the clocks changing can disorientate people living with dementia, and that the effect can show for days or weeks, not just on the Sunday.

That does not mean every resident will get worse. It means the week of 26 October is a week to watch more closely.

Light: open early, close before dark

Light is what the team controls most, and what matters most.

• Bright light in the morning. Blinds open early, breakfast by the window, a walk in the garden in the morning if the weather allows. Natural morning light is one of the strongest cues for the body clock.
• Close curtains and switch lights on before it gets dark, not after. The transition happens with the room already lit, and the moment it “becomes night” goes almost unnoticed.
• Even lighting in the late afternoon. Shadows in corners, reflections in windows and half-lit corridors are a known source of confusion — a shadow can be read as a person or a hole.
• Night lights in bedrooms and on the way to the toilet, for those who wake up disorientated.

Routines at the usual times

The advice repeated by dementia organisations is to keep the routine stable and, where needed, make the transition gradually.

• Keep the day's timings by the new clock, without rushing: waking, meals and bedtime at the usual clock times, accepting that for the first few days some people will be hungry or sleepy “an hour early”.
• Adjust slowly for those who need it. Some teams bring the afternoon snack or dinner slightly forward in the first week for residents who become restless earlier, then return to the normal schedule over a few days.
• Medication: change nothing on your own initiative. For most medicines, giving them at the same time on the new clock causes no problems. For time-critical medicines — for example, some medicines for Parkinson's disease, insulins or anticoagulants — the decision belongs to the doctor or pharmacist, and it is worth agreeing it before Sunday.
• Brief the night team. The first nights after the change are the most likely for waking at odd hours and for requests to “go home”.

Afternoon activities, before dark

If late afternoon is the hardest hour, it is the hour to plan for, not the hour when “there are no more activities”.

• One calm activity between the afternoon snack and dinner, every day at the same time: familiar music, folding laundry, looking at photographs, laying the table. The aim is not entertainment; it is a predictable structure for an hour that tends to come apart.
• Fewer stimuli, not more. A loud television, several conversations at once and lots of people walking through are the opposite of what helps at this hour.
• Physical activity in the morning or early afternoon. A walk or gentle exercise earlier helps people reach the night sleepy; in the late afternoon, something seated is better.
• Record what happens. Time, what the person was doing, what helped. In two weeks the team will know whether the clock change had an effect and on whom — and can separate it from other causes, such as pain, infection or constipation, which should never be forgotten when agitation reappears.

Where RVer can fit in, and where it can't

RVer does not solve the clock change or late-afternoon agitation, and that is not what we suggest. What it can do is serve as one of the calm activities of that period: a short, seated session, accompanied by a professional, in a place the person knows — a beach in the morning, a garden in daylight, the village where they grew up. For some people it is a calm moment and a starting point for conversation; for others it does not work, and the session stops whenever the person wants.

Two practical notes. If the person is already very agitated, it is not the time to introduce something new: a session makes more sense before the peak, as part of the routine, than as a response to a crisis. And the choice of place matters — the free “Life story” tool at /ferramentas/ helps gather each resident's places and themes before any session. More on the background in virtual reality in dementia.

In summary

• Winter time begins in the early hours of Sunday 25 October 2026: 2:00 becomes 1:00, and sunset moves about an hour earlier.
• For people living with dementia, earlier darkness can increase disorientation and late-afternoon agitation, for days or weeks.
• Bright light in the morning, curtains closed and lights on before dark, and fewer shadows at the end of the day.
• Routines at the usual times, with gradual meal adjustments; time-critical medication agreed in advance with the doctor or pharmacist.
• Plan a calm activity between the afternoon snack and dinner, and record what happens over the following two weeks.

This article is for information only and does not replace clinical assessment. A sudden change in behaviour in a person living with dementia should be assessed by the healthcare team; if in doubt, contact SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) or, in an emergency, 112. Alzheimer Portugal offers information and support for carers.

RVer is a virtual reality system for clinical use designed for healthcare settings, whose base product is registered as a Class I Medical Device in EUDAMED (Basic UDI-DI 56006195127RVERTZ) and with INFARMED (Portugal, CDM 94571546) and bears the CE mark under MDR 2017/745. The RVer Motion, RVer Neuro and RVer Exposure modules are in development and are not covered by that registration.