Night shifts are bad for us – even human versatility has its limits

A new surprising research finding from the Surrey University chronobiologist are revealing that disrupted sleeping patterns such as grave yard shifts and late night travels confuse gene expression and is henceforth, bad for your health. This is something that many people can tell you already but now it is more so true thanks to this current research. We all have circadian rhythms that we have known about since the 4th century BC and known that they were endogenous, rather than simply responses to external stimuli.  As homo sapiens we do not hibernate, shed our skin or grow fur for the winter. We do have certain times we are "set" to sleep and this is usually 11pm to 2am. Anytime after or before this time and we could mess our sleeping patterns and potentially harm our health. What this research suggest is that there are limits and these limits are loose because circadian rhythms are entrainable as well as endogenous. Your body clock can change  if it has to and can settle back to the original time quite easily. What it does not like is the frequent changes. 

I have always noticed decreased energy the few days after when I would work long hard hours after 4 am. I have heard that sleeping late and sleeping at the "normal" time on and off can be unhealthy, but i have not really known why, or when I asked the person telling me this information why, they too would say they didn't exactly know. Now this new research has given me better insight on how I am slowly messing up my circadian rhythm and possible health fluctuations.