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Daytime sleep detrimental to shift workers

Written by: David Castillo on April 23rd, 2011

Daytime sleep detrimental to shift workers | read this item

Humans are naturally day creatures. However, society demands that that people go to work at night working long shifts, and so there is the question of how to keep shift workers awake during their work? Karolinska Institute sleep researcher Torbjorn Akerstedt shares that he “usually say no when I get that question,” adding that “night work is unphysiological. You can never make it as good as day work.”

Akerstedt is referring to the body’s internal clock that is designed to keep people alert during daytime and to feel sleepy as night comes. Akerstedt explains further that “there are several varieties of night work that are worse than other types – for example, if you have very short rest periods between shifts.”

Akerstedt couldn’t stress further the importance of getting adequate sleep at night in time for work and its difference with sleeping during the day, saying that “if I give you 12 hours of sleep by day, you’re still going to be impaired at 2 in the morning because your clock doesn’t adjust.”

Source: NPR.org