At the core of human thought, for the majority of individuals in the developed nations at least, there is the tacit assumption that as a species we are unfettered by the demands imposed by our biology and that we can do what we want, at whatever time we choose, whereas in reality every aspect of our physiology and behaviour is constrained by a 24 h beat arising from deep within our evolution. Our daily circadian rhythms and sleep/wake cycle allow us to function optimally in a dynamic world, adjusting our biology to the demands imposed by the day/night cycle. The themes developed in this review focus upon the growing realization that we ignore the circadian and sleep systems at our peril, and this paper considers the mechanisms that generate and regulate circadian and sleep systems; what happens mechanistically when these systems collapse as a result of societal pressures and disease; how sleep disruption and stress are linked; why sleep disruption and mental illness invariably occur together; and how individuals and employers can attempt to mitigate some of the problems associated with working against our internal temporal biology. While some of the health costs of sleep disruption can be reduced, in the short-term at least, there will always be significant negative consequences associated with shift work and sleep loss. With this in mind, society needs to address this issue and decide when the consequences of sleep disruption are justified in the workplace.

中文翻译：

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睡眠、昼夜节律和健康。


在人类思想的核心，至少对于发达国家的大多数人来说，有一个默认的假设：作为一个物种，我们不受生物学强加的要求的束缚，并且我们可以在任何时候做我们想做的事。我们选择，而实际上我们生理和行为的各个方面都受到我们进化深处产生的 24 小时节拍的限制。我们的日常昼夜节律和睡眠/觉醒周期使我们能够在动态世界中以最佳状态发挥作用，根据昼夜周期的要求调整我们的生物学。本综述的主题集中于人们日益认识到，我们忽视昼夜节律和睡眠系统将面临危险，本文考虑了产生和调节昼夜节律和睡眠系统的机制；当这些系统因社会压力和疾病而崩溃时，会发生什么？睡眠中断与压力有何关联；为什么睡眠障碍和精神疾病总是同时发生？以及个人和雇主如何尝试减轻与我们的内部时间生物学相关的一些问题。虽然睡眠中断造成的一些健康成本可以降低，但至少在短期内，轮班工作和睡眠不足总会带来严重的负面后果。考虑到这一点，社会需要解决这个问题，并决定何时在工作场所造成睡眠中断的后果是合理的。