Abstract
We live in a society of 24-hour news coverage, supermarkets, and internet availability. The odds are stacked against good sleep. How have we arrived at this state of affairs? Shift work is partly to blame as it means shift workers have to sleep during the wrong circadian phase. What does shift work do to health? ‘The 24-hour society’ examines the effects of shift work on health in terms of sleep times, driving after work, eating times, and cancer risk. As a society we should promote sleep friendly and dark friendly policies and lifestyles and prioritize and value night time rest as a way to restore our body, brain, and health.