Cellen zijn de basis van het leven. Alle levensprocessen spelen zich af in en door cellen.
Eén van de verbazingwekkende eigenschappen van cellen is dat ze weten hoe laat het is.
Dat wij zelf in ons lichaam een ‘biologische klok’ bezitten, weten we al lang
*). ’s Nachts functioneert ons lichaam anders dan overdag: we hebben behoefte aan
slaap. Op een zeker moment wordt het bijna onmogelijk wakker te blijven. Ongelukken door
menselijke fouten gebeuren vooral aan het eind van de nacht (Tsjernobyl, Exxon Valdez) op
een tijd dat een mens biologisch gezien hoort te slapen.
Cafeïne kan ervoor zorgen dat
ploeg- en nachtwerkers minder
vaak fouten maken
Zo meldt een nieuwe Cochrane-studie
(Cochrane is een onderneming die belangrijke medische vragen beantwoordt door een methode,
gebaseerd op wetenschappelijk bewijs. Ze toont in één oogopslag de effectiviteit van een
behandeling – nvdv). Dit heeft gevolgen voor gezondheidswerkers en voor elk bedrijf
dat werkt met ploeg- en nachtsysteem. Bijvoorbeeld in de transportsector.
Danish nurses demand limit on late
shifts, claim cancer risks
Nurses in Denmark are calling for the
government to put limits on night shifts, claiming they increase the risk of breast
cancer. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Shifts 'threaten women's health'
Women who work shifts are more likely to retire early due to ill health than male
counterparts, a study suggests.
New Approach Sheds Light on Ways
Circadian Disruption Affects Human Health
Growing evidence indicates that exposure to irregular patterns of light and darkness can
cause the human circadian system to fall out of synchrony with the 24-hour solar day,
negatively affecting human health — but scientists have been unable to effectively
study the relationship between circadian disruptions and human maladies.
Study Shows How Shift Workers Can
Improve Job Performance and Implement a Realistic Sleep Schedule
A study in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that the use of light exposure
therapy, dark sunglasses and a strict sleep schedule can help night-shift workers create a
“compromise circadian phase position,” which may result in increased performance
and alertness during night shifts while still allowing adequate nighttime sleep on days
off. Results show that performance was better for the experimental subjects than the
controls. When the phase delays of the experimental group had likely reached the
compromise circadian position, performance for this group was close to the level during
day shifts, demonstrating fast reaction times with low variability and few or no lapses.
In contrast, the control group continued to show longer and more variable reaction times
on all night shifts. “The major finding of this study was that complete physiological
adaptation to a night shift and day sleep schedule does not appear necessary in order to
improve night shift alertness and lengthen daytime sleep,” said lead author Mark
Smith, post-doctoral fellow in the Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory at Rush
University Medical Center in Chicago. “Instead, we found that partial physiological
adaptation using scheduled exposure to light and darkness is sufficient to bring night
shift performance back to daytime levels.” This study, which was number three in a
series of five conducted between May and October 2007, was to establish a compromise phase
position for permanent night shift work, in which the circadian clock is delayed to only
partially align with the day sleep period. This partial entrainment could reduce the
performance and alertness decrements during night shifts and allow a sleep schedule that
is compatible with both night shifts and days off.
Light at night might be a cancer risk could electric light pose a cancer threat? It might
seem like the wildest of paranoid beliefs, but a growing number of scientists suspect it
might be true.
