Shift work and biological rhythms
Rutenfranz, J.
Arzneimittel-Forschung 28(10a): 1867-1872
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-4172 PMID: 582514 Document Number: 125410
In highly industrialised countries shift work has become inevitable for technological, economic and social reasons. At the present time approximately 20% of the workforce are engaged in shift work, which partly includes night and weekend work. As a result of this form of work, diseases and disorders manifest themselves in shift workers which--combined with an individual predisposition or with certain situational factors--arise partly from disturbance of sleep on the day after night work, partly from difficulties in adapting biological function to the phase-shift of work and sleep. The resulting biological and organisational problems with respect to the practicabilities of shift work are discussed in the light of studies on experimental shift work.