The circadian clock is essentially a timer that lets various glands know when to release hormones and also controls mood, alertness, body temperature and other aspects of the body’s daily cycle. That’s because working at night runs counter to the body’s natural circadian rhythm, says Charmane Eastman, PhD, a physiological psychologist at Rush University in Chicago. Poor scheduling, combined with unhealthy attitudes about the need for sleep, can cause major problems for night workers.
Learning healthy sleeping practices is "just as important as occupational training," he says. "The basic take-home is that fatigue decreases safety," says Bryan Vila, PhD, a sleep expert and criminal justice researcher at Washington State University–Spokane. Now, psychologists are gaining a better understanding of how exactly night and shift work affect cognitive performance and which interventions and policies could keep shift workers and the public safer. Those effects extend beyond the workers themselves, as many of us share the road with night-driving truckers, count on the precision of emergency-room workers and rely on the protection of police and national security personnel at all hours. That means a significant sector of the nation’s work force is exposed to the hazards of working nights, which include restlessness, sleepiness on the job, fatigue, decreased attention and disruption of the body’s metabolic process. Nearly 15 million Americans work a permanent night shift or regularly rotate in and out of night shifts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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