Do you often start your day feeling tired? Do you everfall asleep at work? Do you sometimes just feel out of it -- as if your brain is still asleep, even though yourbody is awake?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, youmight be suffering from what researchers call "social jetlag." And help might come from simply changing yourwork hours.
Till Roenneberg is a German chronobiologist. “Chrono”comes from the Greek root word “chronos” and means"time." So, a chronobiologist is a scientist that studiesthe states of being awake and being asleep.
Mr. Roenneberg says that many people are working attimes that don't match their body's natural sleep-wakecycle. This natural cycle is called the circadian rhythm. Mr. Roenneberg says when your workschedule conflicts with your body’s inner clock it leadsto extreme tiredness, similar to “jet lag”.
"… meaning your body clock would give you the optimal window for sleeping,let's say between midnight and eight o'clock ((in the morning)) or even later, but your social schedules would like you to fall asleep at ten o'clock and getup at six o'clock with the work times, for example. And that discrepancy isvery much like a jet lag situation."
"… meaning your body clock would give you the optimal window for sleeping,let's say between midnight and eight o'clock ((in the morning)) or even later, but your social schedules would like you to fall asleep at ten o'clock and getup at six o'clock with the work times, for example. And that discrepancy isvery much like a jet lag situation."
With jet lag, people feel extremely tired when they travel by air far distances.They end up in a place where the sleep-wake cycle is different from their own.
Till Roenneberg led researchers in a study at Ludwig-Maximilian University inMunich, Germany. They studied “social jet lag" among workers at a steelcompany in Europe.
Factory workers were given work times that matchedtheir natural sleeping habits. Supervisors did not forcethe so-called "night owls," people who like to stayawake at night, to get up early for work. On the otherhand, supervisors also did not force early risers,sometimes called “larks,” to work late.
Changing the schedules of the workers to fit theirlifestyle improved their sense of wellbeing, saysscientist Mr. Roenneberg.
"They sleep up to almost an hour longer on work daysand therefore much shorter on their free days.Normally, people have to catch up on their sleep loss on their work-free days. And we have shortened sleep on work-free days and lengthened the sleep onwork days."
In other words, with the extra hour of sleep, workers reported feeling morerested. They also reported having small improvements in their generalwellbeing.
Changing the schedules of the workers to fit theirlifestyle improved their sense of wellbeing, saysscientist Mr. Roenneberg.
"They sleep up to almost an hour longer on work daysand therefore much shorter on their free days.Normally, people have to catch up on their sleep loss on their work-free days. And we have shortened sleep on work-free days and lengthened the sleep onwork days."
In other words, with the extra hour of sleep, workers reported feeling morerested. They also reported having small improvements in their generalwellbeing.
However, Mr. Roenneberg says, the night owls did not report the same levelof improvement. This suggests that nighttime work is hard on everyone.
He adds that employees who wake up after better rest are more productive.
He adds that employees who wake up after better rest are more productive.
"We still have to convince the employers that this is of financial benefits forthem; and of course the workers, too, that it is of health benefits for them too. And so this just the beginning and that's why we went into a large industry todo this experiment to show that it works."
The study was published in the journal Current Biology.
Till Roenneberg and his team now plan to experiment with mice to investigatea suspected link between "social jet lag" and health problems, includingobesity.
The study was published in the journal Current Biology.
Till Roenneberg and his team now plan to experiment with mice to investigatea suspected link between "social jet lag" and health problems, includingobesity.
I’m Anna Matteo.
Is your work schedule making you feel out of it? Are you a night owl or a lark?Let us know in the comments section.
VOA correspondent Jessica Berman reported this story from Washington, D.C. Anna Matteo wrote it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in This Story
out of it – adj. idiomatic not thinking clearly. For example, “I’m so out of it this morning. I poured orange juice in my coffee instead of milk.”
jet lag – n. a tired and unpleasant feeling that you sometimes get when youtravel by airplane to a place that is far away
circadian rhythm – n. physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow aroughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness in anorganism's environment. They are found in most living things, includinganimals, plants and many tiny microbes.
cycle – n. a set of events or actions that happen again and again in the sameorder : a repeating series of events or actions
shift – n. the scheduled period of time during which a person works
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