MOSCOW, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- 
 
 Russia's president has announced starting this year the country will stick to summer time and not switch to daylight saving time as it has done since 1981. 
 
 "I decided to cancel the shift to winter time, starting from this autumn," President Dmitry Medvedev said of the usual October time change, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday. 
 
 Medvedev said he was making the decision because the shift in time "may lead to stress and illnesses." 
 
 Daylight saving time, practiced in every European country except Iceland and in many other countries around the world, was introduced as a way to save energy. 
 
 Its first use in Russia was in 1917, RIA Novosti said. ||||| Moscow - Russia is doing away with daylight saving time, keeping the clocks unchanged starting this year, with President Dmitry Medvedev telling the Interfax news agency on Tuesday that the time adjustment put strain on the organism and caused stress. 
 
 'Besides, it will allow us to have more daylight,' he said. 
 
 Like many other countries, Russia had previously set its clocks back by one hour in October and forward by one hour in March. Medvedev had proposed getting rid of daylight saving time in late 2009 and instructed the Economy Ministry to explore the idea. 
 
 Last year, Russia had already lowered the number of time zones across its territory from 11 to nine to allow for better administration. Experts have suggested segmenting the country - the world's largest - into only four time zones.
– Russia has decided to eliminate daylight saving time and will keep its clocks unchanged this October and beyond, UPI International reports. President Dmitry Medvedev said he decided to cancel the shift, which the country has practiced since 1981, because of potential "stress and illnesses" on people shifting their biological clocks. It's also a little less complicated for a country with nine time zones, notes Monsters & Critics.