1. The pace of the modern life is too fast, and it is necessary to adapt to it with references to ignoring such important physical factors as the circadian clock which can also influence the psychological processes. In his article “The Risks of Night Work”, Price concentrates on the ways to help people adapt their circadian cycles to working in the night shifts.
It is important to note that there is the direct dependence of the person’s psychological state on the changes in the daily schedule and in the functions of the circadian clock.
The necessity to work at night, especially when people are required to react to the alert questions and issues, makes people function in the stressful situations and often leads to the fatigue, continuous sleepiness, different sleep disorders, and to the problems with the physical and psychological health.
The author of the article states that those people who work at night are at risk to suffer from heart diseases and cancer. Moreover, according to the data presented in the article, “nearly 15 million Americans work a permanent night shift or regularly rotate in and out of night shifts” (Price, 2011, p. 38).
That is why, the discussion provided in the article is important for many people, and the research findings can help those people working at night to adapt physically and psychologically to the new rhythms. The importance of the psychologists’ role in overcoming the problem is in the fact that while working at night, people experience sleepiness at the workplace, fatigue, and the decreased attention (Price, 2011).
Furthermore, these people also experience sleep disorders when they are at home. These processes result in changing the moods and cognitive abilities of persons.
It was found that the problem is in destroying the circadian rhythm according to which the organism’s glands work and control the other systems’ functioning.
The people’s reflexes and reactions are influenced significantly when the organism suffers from changing the rhythms that is why the metabolic syndrome symptoms develop, and people suffer from the lack of rest and make more errors while working (Price, 2011). These aspects are the symptoms of the circadian misalignment which cannot be treated with the help of more sleep and rest.
Nevertheless, in spite of the absence of the effective methods to make people adapt successfully to working at night, there are several points presented in the article that can help persons shift their circadian rhythms in relation to the necessities and working schedule.
The additional rest and sleep during the day are not effective to cope with the fatigue, but the concentration on the regular adaptation to the schedule can be discussed as the good way to overcome the problem. Thus, it is necessary to create the conditions according to which people “can delay the circadian clock by about one or two hours per day” (Price, 2011, p. 40).
The author states that when persons adapt to their work physically, while controlling their schedule and following the new daily cycle, they can experience some psychological problems because of the difficulties in correlating their schedule with the schedules of the persons working during the day. However, the findings presented in the article are important because the author also accentuates the positive aspects and provides the recommendations for adapting to the night shifts successfully.
Reference
Price, M. (2011). The risks of night work. American Psychological Association, 42(1), 38-41.