by Dr Steve McCabe

AROUND 10,000BCE humanity underwent an existential revolution. The traditional ‘huntergatherer’ model of existence started to make way for a new model. We learned how to tame wild plants – to plant them, grow them, nourish them and harvest them. We learnt how to domesticate some of the animals we previously hunted so that we could guarantee a regular supply of meat and also exploit their production of milk and wool.

This agricultural model of existence brought with it the need to enclose crops and animals and to guard those enclosures to ensure that one community’s hard work did not become another community’s easy pickings. And, so, the idea working night shifts was invented.

Fast-forward to the 1800s and the development of reliable gas and electrical lighting combined with the cost-efficiency of running factories like textile mills, steel works and iron foundries on a 24/7 basis, rather than running them down and starting them back up again each day, cemented the idea of regular night shift work into the world of modern employment – an issue which became the focus for the fledgling 19th century trade union movement. Now at least 20% of the European population works regular night shifts.