When you take away the (artificial) light, nature’s beauty is revealed. Let’s transform night shift and make it beautiful, spiritual, and majestic again, as it was for time immemorial.
I’m tired of the circadian rhetoric that shift workers should quit their jobs.
Night shift is necessary.
Instead, I want to hear shift workers advocating for better working conditions.
I also want to hear circadian influencers & light gurus teaching how to improve night shift, rather than just biding the time until a person can walk away from it.
Brighter Days, Darker Nights is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Yes, night shift—as practiced at present—is for the most part terrible for health.
In my chosen field of birth work, it’s a huge problem!
When you look at all the mental and physical troubles associated with circadian disruption, they overlay perfectly with all the long-term occupational hazards associated with shift work.
From in the trenches of work, it’s easy to suggest it’s just the normal stress of the job… but what if it was actually the environment?
What if we humans are actually perfectly suited to work as a society around the clock… we’ve just gotten off track thanks to technological advances in lighting?
Night shift for humans has always existed—our ability to transcend the diurnal schedule is one of our superpowers.
But nowadays, humans undertaking night work face unprecedented circadian disruption.
Instead of a calm, dark environment, lit by the stars, moon, and candlelight… serene with majestic sky views… and small amounts of local foods or leftover dinner to snack on, things today are lit up to mimic day.
It’s white overhead lights. It’s midnight meals of imported and processed foods. It’s night driving at perilous paces and LED headlights. It’s unimpeded cortisol, the pregnenalone steal, and downstream effects. It’s circadian disruption.
On top of all that other stuff everyone else is talking about, like work stress and occupational trauma.
Thus, the more circadian the collective nighttime environment, the more healthy night shift is going to be.
Night shift is not going anywhere! So let’s make it better.
Here’s my night shift manifesto of the day:
Night shift is a human super-power
We should honor, respect, and elevate night shift
Night environments should all be tuned to offer the best possible environment
Our night shift workers should be thriving
We need a cultural shift around nighttime environments and schedules just as much as we need a physical shift around these parameters 🧡
Here’s better circadian lighting from midday to midnight… then turn around and reverse order to do it right from dawn until noon.
Connect with the community!
Tell us your night shift stories. What was the light like? Did you notice it impacting you? Let’s change culture! What would you have like to have seen done differently on your team, with your schedule, and in your environment?
Better night shift manifesto
Better night shift manifesto
Better night shift manifesto
I’m tired of the circadian rhetoric that shift workers should quit their jobs.
Night shift is necessary.
Instead, I want to hear shift workers advocating for better working conditions.
I also want to hear circadian influencers & light gurus teaching how to improve night shift, rather than just biding the time until a person can walk away from it.
Brighter Days, Darker Nights is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Yes, night shift—as practiced at present—is for the most part terrible for health.
In my chosen field of birth work, it’s a huge problem!
When you look at all the mental and physical troubles associated with circadian disruption, they overlay perfectly with all the long-term occupational hazards associated with shift work.
From in the trenches of work, it’s easy to suggest it’s just the normal stress of the job… but what if it was actually the environment?
What if we humans are actually perfectly suited to work as a society around the clock… we’ve just gotten off track thanks to technological advances in lighting?
Night shift for humans has always existed—our ability to transcend the diurnal schedule is one of our superpowers.
But nowadays, humans undertaking night work face unprecedented circadian disruption.
Instead of a calm, dark environment, lit by the stars, moon, and candlelight… serene with majestic sky views… and small amounts of local foods or leftover dinner to snack on, things today are lit up to mimic day.
It’s white overhead lights. It’s midnight meals of imported and processed foods. It’s night driving at perilous paces and LED headlights. It’s unimpeded cortisol, the pregnenalone steal, and downstream effects. It’s circadian disruption.
On top of all that other stuff everyone else is talking about, like work stress and occupational trauma.
Thus, the more circadian the collective nighttime environment, the more healthy night shift is going to be.
Night shift is not going anywhere! So let’s make it better.
Here’s my night shift manifesto of the day:
Night shift is a human super-power
We should honor, respect, and elevate night shift
Night environments should all be tuned to offer the best possible environment
Our night shift workers should be thriving
We need a cultural shift around nighttime environments and schedules just as much as we need a physical shift around these parameters 🧡
Connect with the community!
Tell us your night shift stories. What was the light like? Did you notice it impacting you? Let’s change culture! What would you have like to have seen done differently on your team, with your schedule, and in your environment?
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