A Compromise Circadian Phase Position for Permanent Night Work Improves Mood, Fatigue, and Performance

Details

• Personal Author:
  Eastman CI ; Fogg LF ; Smith MR
• Description:
  Study Objective: To assess night shift improvements in mood, fatigue, and performance when the misalignment between circadian rhythms and a night shift, day sleep schedule is reduced. Design: Blocks of simulated night shifts alternated with days off. Experimental subjects had interventions to delay their circadian clocks to partially align with a night shift schedule. Control subjects had no interventions. Subjects were categorized according to the degree of circadian realignment independent of whether they were in the experimental or control groups. Twelve subjects were categorized as not re-entrained, 21 as partially re-entrained, and 6 as completely re-entrained. Setting: Home sleep and laboratory night shifts. Participants: Young healthy adults. Interventions: Experimental subjects had intermittent bright light pulses during night shifts, wore dark sunglasses outside, and had scheduled sleep episodes in darkness. Measurements and Results: A computerized test battery was administered every 2 hours during day and night shifts. After about one week on the night shift schedule, which included a weekend off, the partially and completely re-entrained groups had markedly improved mood, fatigue, and performance compared to the group that was not re-entrained. The completely and partially re-entrained groups were similar to each other and had levels of mood, fatigue, and performance that were close to daytime levels. Conclusions: Partial re-entrainment to a permanent night shift schedule, which can be produced by feasible, inexpensive interventions, is associated with greatly reduced impairments during night shifts. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Circadian Rhythm Laboratories Occupational Health Safety Shift Work Schedule Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Alertness Author Keywords: Shift Work Bright Light Circadian-rhythms Circadian Rhythms Human Laboratory-testing Light-properties Neurophysiological-effects Melatonin Mood Performance Shift-work Shift-workers Sleep-deprivation Sleep-disorders Training Work-environment Work-intervals

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• ISSN:
  0161-8105
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  32
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036149
• Citation:
  Sleep 2009 Nov; 32(11):1481-1489
• Contact Point Address:
  Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory, Department of Behavioral Science, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment and Workforce: Organization of Work
• Performing Organization:
  Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  Sleep
• End Date:
  20090430
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:23ffdf6e0732160be35a20c1e406714e199282aeb7c1c941da3ed94aea3266d1ba80a0115bad3b42a3193416e9c5d9ce27b6349daa7d800850ba0ec220554238
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187699/cdc_187699_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 476.63 KB ]