Social Jet Lag
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday May 13, 2006
Tired and disoriented? Trapped in an office for extended periods of time? You may have "social jet lag", a term coined by German sleep physicians to explain the groggy state experienced by people with body clocks out of sync with the demands of modern life.
Researchers at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich suggest that up to 50 per cent of the population is in a permanent state of jet lag.In Sydney, Dr C. Shu Chan, medical director at Sydney's Sleep and Chest Disorders Centre, believes city-based workers are most likely to be affected.Five years ago he worked from offices at Ashfield, Liverpool and Penrith, where he says the problem was not so prevalent."I've been seeing a pattern since I moved to the city. What is very obvious to me is a lot of people start work at eight and don't leave until seven," Dr Chan said, adding he is particularly worried by hours worked by young lawyers."The first five years are tough. Some of them don't go home until after midnight."Office light is poor compared with natural sunlight, meaning circadian rhythms are altered. "The brain has difficulty trying to identify what is sleep time and wake time," Chan says.The result is less efficient workers and a greater likelihood of on-the-job mistakes.A small amount of sunlight is the key to resetting body clocks."A lot (of CBD workers) don't have an hour to spare. They eat their lunch at their desk. If they can spend at least half an hour in sunlight it will help the body."Dr Naomi Rogers, sleep scientist at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research at Sydney University, says people living in the Northern Hemisphere are more likely to be affected by social jet lag than Australians. "In Australia we don't have large differences in day length and night length."
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald
