Circadian Phase Adjustment and Improvement of Metabolic Control in Night Shift Workers

Modern lifestyle has dramatically changed the daily rhythms of life. Physical activity, diet and light exposure are no longer restricted to daytime hours due to increased shift work. Recent scientific reports have shown that shift work leads to disruption of circadian rhythms and promotes diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Until now only few studies investigating circadian rhythm disturbances in the context of type 2 diabetes and obesity have been conducted in man. Thus, knowledge of the molecular pathways and the responsibles genes in man are missing and have been identified only in animal studies. The objective of the project is to achieve breakthroughs in the understanding of the causality between inner clock rhythm disturbances and the development of type 2 diabetes and obesity. The provided data on the interaction between genes, epigenetics, metabolism, cardiovascular function and the internal clock are intended to contribute to identify novel biomarkers and novel therapeutic approaches focusing on circadian rhythms to reduce the occurence of diabetes and obesity in shift worker.