While working the night shift in Vienna's Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital years ago, Austrian-born Dr. Eva Schernhammer was disturbed by an unusually high cancer rate among her late-night colleagues.
For now, she sees no quick fixes for night workers. She does not, for instance, advocate melatonin supplements, which the FDA does not regulate. "It's premature to recommend specific changes [in policy]," she says. "After all, we've only had artificial light for about 100 years. It's only fair that the research is just now picking up."
Schernhammer came to the U.S. thinking she would stay only long enough to complete her Ph.D., but she has continued to find new areas of investigation that are keeping her here. She is now examining the type of light night-workers are exposed to: Some scientists believe that shorter wavelength lights, such as fluorescent and halogen, are particularly detrimental to melatonin production. Meanwhile, she frequently flies to Vienna to visit her parents--and worries about the effects of frequent jetlag. "In an ideal world, I would try to live regularly," she says. "I often envy people who have children, because they keep you on a regular schedule."
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