Shift work and the jet-lag syndrome: conflicts between environmental and body time.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fuller CA ; Moore-Ede MC ; Sulzman FM
• Description:
  The body's response to fatigue and sleep loss, and conflict between external time and rhythmic functions of physiological systems were studied. Observations of two aircraft captains showed that work, sleep, and eating schedules varied randomly when compared with individual's home time. Effects of a single phase shift of light dark (LD) cycle were observed using squirrel-monkeys (Saimiri- sciureus) (SM) as experimental primates. Feeding and drinking rhythms were essentially resynchronized to new LD cycle within 48 hours when LD phase shift was displaced for 8 hours. Temperature rhythm took approximately 24 hours longer to resynchronize. Urinary potassium, sodium, and volume rhythms took approximately 7 days to completely resynchronize. In addition to LD cycles, rhythmic availability of food was a key element affecting an organism's timing. When SMs were concurrently entrained to a LD 12:12 (light and dark for 12 hours each) and an eating fasting (EF) cycle of 3:21 hours (food available for 3 hours and not available for 21 hours), the timing of temperature rhythm was not affected, while all other rhythms were phase shifted by EF cycle. A complex rhythmic behavior was observed when a SM was exposed to an 18 hour day with LD 9:9 cycle. Besides active synchronization of biological rhythms, external time cues could have passive influences on rhythms. Animals synchronized to environmental time cues were able to maintain body temperature without difficulty during cold exposure. Effective thermoregulation required proper temporal synchronization of various physiological systems responsible for maintenance of body temperature. The authors recommend that the fatigue factor should be minimized. Daytime flight should be chosen whenever practical. The temporal environment should be synchronized to present a single unified 24 hour environment. If a shift is required for a short period, the individual should maintain himself on his own time.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Education Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Circadian-rhythms Environmental-factors Laboratory-animals Physiological-disorders Pilots Psychological-fatigue Psychophysiology Shift-work Sleep-disorders
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Conference/Symposia Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Massachusetts ; New York ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  305-320
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00168828
• Citation:
  The twenty-four hour workday: proceedings of a symposium on variations in work-sleep schedules. Johnson LC, Texas DI, Colquhoun WP, Colligan, Michael J.J, eds. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 81-127, 1981 Jul; :305-320
• Editor(s):
  Johnson LC ; Texas DI ; Colquhoun WP ; Colligan, Michael J.J
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1981
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  The twenty-four hour workday: proceedings of a symposium on variations in work-sleep schedules
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1c0643a6fdb566fc6fd3ea7f1ea06dfe278e30d2be7ff2663348bccc8868158af8eaf031b409fe040fec0344682562700009c8fcf20a9a0cad86a350012d50ad
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/179867/cdc_179867_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.62 MB ]