On the night shift; what's goin on with nurses' circadian rhythms?

Photo: Troy Simpkins, Vanderbilt University

Ever work the night shift? It takes some getting used to. Most night shift workers just can’t take a nap on the job (unless they are air traffic controllers, apparently). Take nurses. They need to be awake and alert. Now research from a UAB assistant professor of psychiatry, done while she was at Vanderbilt , shows that 25 percent of hospital nurses skip sleep for as many as 24 hours while trying to adjust to a night shift. That strategy, says Karen Gamble, Ph.D . , is not very effective. Studies have shown that disruptions of circadian rhythms -- when sleep wake patterns are out of sync with a biological clock -- have been associated with cardiovascular, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders. There is evidence that sleep disruptions might affect cancer and mental disorders

Most hospital nurses work 12 hour shifts and bounce back and forth on different sleep cycles. The Vandy study was based on responses from 388 nurses, and was published in the April 13 issue of Public Library of Science One . The researchers identified five different strategies that most nurses employed to manage preparing for a night shift, from skipping sleep to maintaining a night shift even on their off days.

The researchers suggest hospitals cut down on the number of times that nurses have to bounce back and forth from day to night living.