Having Trouble Sleeping After The Night Shift? Try Wearing Dark Sunglasses -- In All Types Of Weather - On The Commute Home

Main Category: Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia
Article Date: 19 Mar 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Our ability to stay awake and fall asleep is a function of two processes. First, there is a homeostatic switch that drives sleep that is located in the brain.

As soon as we wake up, chemicals build up in our brain. The build-up of these chemicals is associated with the need to go back to sleep at the end of the day. Counteracting this drive for sleep is the biological clock.

The clock function with a rhythm that drives our wakefulness, known as the circadian rhythm.

Early in the morning, after being up all night, the sleep hemostat is primed for sleep. However, although the circadian clock has just hit its lowest point in its curve, the exposure to daylight on the commute home "reminds" the clock that the day is beginning and the circadian drive for wakefulness increases.

Thus, wearing dark sunglasses will "fool" the clock into thinking it is still dark and delay the clock enough to allow for sleep to occur after the night shift is over. (Rosen)

Dr. Ilene Rosen - on-line bio:
uphs.upenn.edu/sleepctr/faculty/Rosen.htm
Dr. Richard Schwab - on-line bio:
uphs.upenn.edu/sleepctr/faculty/Schwab.htm

The University of Pennsylvania has one of only two comprehensive sleep divisions in the entire country; we have both an academic and a clinical arm including many different areas of medicine and expertise. As sleep medicine continues to emerge as a new field of medicine, clinically, we offer 20 beds to sleep patients at several different PENN Sleep Center locations throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. Academically, we're doing some fascinating research here in many areas of sleep medicine. For more information, go on-line to:
upenn.edu/sleepctr
uphs.upenn.edu/sleepctr

PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Penn's School of Medicine is ranked #2 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals [Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which is consistently ranked one of the nation's few "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center]; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.

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