The hidden cost of the night shift and how to sleep it off
Research is exploring the health impacts of night shift work, which disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythms and is linked to serious long-term health issues. Scientists are investigating whether splitting sleep into two blocks could help mitigate these negative effects.
Why it matters
As shift work remains essential for modern infrastructure, finding ways to reduce its physiological toll is critical for the well-being of a large portion of the global workforce.
The hidden cost of the night shift and how to sleep it off
By Pallab Ghosh Science Correspondent It is four in the morning, and the ward is quiet. A junior doctor has been on her feet for nine hours. She is tired, her muscles are sore and her eyes are straining, but when her shift ends at six in the morning and she finally gets home, she struggles to sleep.
Her internal clock, built over millions of years of evolution to tune human biology to the rising and setting of the Sun, is insisting it is morning. Time to wake up. Time to be alert. No amount of darkness, earplugs or blackout blinds can entirely silence it.
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