Shining a Light on Shift Workers' Sleep Patterns

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Light deprivation hinders the body clock's ability to regulate the sleep-wake cycle, says a U.S. study that helps explain why many night and early morning shift workers have trouble sleeping.

In research with rats, a team at the University of Pennsylvania found that stronger light intensity enables noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) neurons -- which regulate arousal from sleep -- to function properly and help maintain normal regulation of the sleep-wake cycle.

On the other hand, light deprivation causes a loss of noradrenergic fibers, which results in disruption of the normal sleep-wake cycle.

The study was published in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Sleep.

Sleep problems are common among people who work night or early morning shifts. That's because they're working when their bodies want to sleep and trying to sleep when their bodies expect to be awake.

One way to cope with working the night shift is to increase work space lighting, according to a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Increased light will help night-shift workers' bodies adapt and make them more alert and effective at work.

When they're trying to sleep during the day, night-shift workers need to ensure that the bedroom is dark to persuade the body that it's time to sleep.