Move the night way: how can physical activity facilitate adaptation to shift work?

Shift work, involving night work, leads to impaired sleep, cognition, health and wellbeing, and an increased risk of occupational incidents. Current countermeasures include circadian adaptation to phase shift circadian biomarkers. However, evidence of real-world circadian adaptation is found primari...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications biology 2024-03, Vol.7 (1), p.259-10, Article 259
Main Authors: Easton, Dayna F., Gupta, Charlotte C., Vincent, Grace E., Ferguson, Sally A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/1385/1330
631/378/1385/2640
631/477/2811
Adaptation
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Circadian Rhythm
Circadian rhythms
Cognition
Exercise
Humans
Life Sciences
Light
Perspective
Physical activity
Shift work
Shift Work Schedule
Work Schedule Tolerance
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Summary:Shift work, involving night work, leads to impaired sleep, cognition, health and wellbeing, and an increased risk of occupational incidents. Current countermeasures include circadian adaptation to phase shift circadian biomarkers. However, evidence of real-world circadian adaptation is found primarily in occupations where light exposure is readily controlled. Despite this, non-photic adaptation to shift work remains under researched. Other markers of shift work adaptation exist (e.g., improvements in cognition and wellbeing outcomes) but are relatively unexplored. Timeframes for shift work adaptation involve changes which occur over a block of shifts, or over a shift working career. We propose an additional shift work adaptation timeframe exists which encompasses acute within shift changes in markers of adaptation. We also propose that physical activity might be an accessible and cost-effective countermeasure that could influence multiple markers of adaptation across three timeframes (Within Shift, Within Block, Within Work-span). Finally, practical considerations for shift workers, shift work industries and future research are identified. This Perspective proposes that shift work adaptation occurs within-shift, over a block of shifts, or over a shift working career and offers physical activity as an accessible countermeasure to support adaptation across these timeframes.
ISSN:2399-3642
2399-3642
DOI:10.1038/s42003-024-05962-8