Work may provide incomparable inner peace, but the timing of that work still matters. A shift may begin in the morning, evening, or night, and it may end during another part of the day. For workers’ circadian rhythms, the relevant question is not simply how long they work, but how the beginning and end of a shift fit together. That question matters whether the work ultimately serves humans or nonhumans.
Does a morning-to-evening schedule work best? Is an evening-to-night schedule acceptable? Is a night-to-morning schedule the most difficult? What about schedules that begin and end during the same part of the day, or those that run from morning to night, evening to morning, or night to evening? Each combination may place different demands on the worker’s internal clock.
One way to think about round-the-clock staffing is through four sleep chronotypes. In a popular framework, dolphins account for roughly 10 percent of people, lions for 15 percent, wolves for 15 percent, and bears for 55 percent. These chronotypes may complement one another, allowing workers with different natural sleep patterns to support services that must remain available at all hours. But could a modern workplace function with only the dolphin, lion, or wolf groups? Could it function without the much larger bear group?
Only time will reveal the consequences of repeatedly overwhelming workers’ circadian rhythms. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robots are not limited by human sleep chronotypes, so they may eventually assume more of the work required around the clock. They may serve humans and nonhumans alike, regardless of the time of day or the duration of the task, while helping organizations meet the demands of 24/7/365 operations.
That possibility does not remove today’s responsibility to protect human workers. Workers with greater institutional protection and privilege should advocate for colleagues who are less protected and more marginalized. Employers should consider napping recliners, pods, or dedicated nap rooms for all workers whose schedules strain normal sleep patterns. AI may eventually reduce the conflict between continuous service and human circadian needs. For now, to borrow a line from Top Gun: Maverick, “But not today.”
Deepak Gupta is an anesthesiologist.
