一般而言，朝九晚五工作型態稱之為正常班，廣義而言，凡非朝九晚五工作者均謂之 輪班工作(shift work)，如警察、消防隊員、醫師、護理人員、機師與空服員、警衛、卡車司 機、餐旅業服務員、塔台控制員、24小時生產線工作人員、總機人員、保全人員等。輪班 工作者由於生活型態大幅改變，較易有睡眠干擾與睡眠不足問題。由於長期輪班工作，幾 近和社會分離，如傳統三班制、四班二輪、夜班等，可能影響一般正常社交活動與人際關 係，和朋友、家人、親戚間互動時間減少，彼此間關係可能變得較疏遠。輪班工作者通常 較無法規律運動，且傾向於吃一些身邊垂手可得販賣機之垃圾食物(junk food)，而這些食物 通常具有高糖、高鹽、低纖、高脂及高熱量等特性，可能對身體產生不良健康效應。 輪班工作者可說是直接挑戰個人之生物節律(biological rhythm)，也因此破壞了身體內之 晝夜節律(circadian rhythm)，進而影響體內相關荷爾蒙分泌與調節，如生長激素(growth hormone)、褪黑激素(melatonin)、胰島素(insulin)、腎上腺素(adrenaline)、皮質素(cortisol)、 甲狀腺素(thyroxine)等生理荷爾蒙。輪班工作之短期健康效應，包括工作傷害與事故之風險 增加、容易失眠、生活品質降低、一般性身體不適感、腸胃系統症狀(像胃不適、噁心、腹 瀉、便秘、心窩燒灼感、腹絞痛等)。研究報告指出，長期輪班工作可能影響身體之心血管 系統、新陳代謝、消化系統、免疫系統及荷爾蒙平衡，也因此較易罹患冠心病、腦中風、 高血壓、肥胖、糖尿病、消化性潰瘍、憂鬱症等慢性疾病，而已有糖尿病、高血壓與冠心 病者，即使有藥物控制，病情波動起伏大，不易掌控，較可能進展為頑固性高血壓或糖尿 病。另有一少部分人經年累月夜班工作(night shift work)，研究發現上夜班者比較會變肥胖 (obesity)和過重(overweight)，其原因通常不是吃得比較多，而是整體能量消耗較少，即身體 活動與運動大幅減少。 輪班工作且超時加班，短期間內會對生理與心理產生強大衝擊，可能促發腦血管與心 臟疾病(腦血管疾病係指腦出血、腦梗塞、蜘蛛膜下腔出血或高血壓腦病變；心臟疾病包括 心肌梗塞、急性心衰竭、主動脈剝離、狹心症、嚴重心律不整、心臟停止或心因性猝死 等)，如警察、消防隊員、職業駕駛等猝死案例時有所聞。職場醫護人員對於輪班工作者， 除了定期健康檢查追蹤外，應評估其個人健康風險，如代謝症候群、心血管疾病、肝腎疾 病、氣喘、癲癇等，在工時及工作類別有所調整，以保障勞工之身心健康。

In general, anyone who works from a.m. 9:00 to p.m. 5:00 is so called regular day work, otherwise, attributed to shift work type, occupation srelated to shift work, such as policemen, firefighters, physicians, nurses, pilots, cabin crews, security guards , body guards , truck drivers, tower controller, operators, etc. Shift work may change personal daily lifestyles and interrupt sleep patterns, and finally induce sleep disorder.Long-term shift work may also have an impact on social activities and personal relationships. Inadequate physical acitivities and irregular diet food intake, esp. junk food may have negative influences on human health, for example diabetes, obesity, hypertention, metabolic syndrome, etc.. Shift work pattern directly challenges our internal body clock, interrupts the circadian rhythm, furthermore influences hormones synthesis and regulations, such as melatonin, growth hormone, insulin, cortisol, adrenaline, thyroxine, etc.Short-term health effects of shift work include sleep disorder, accidental risk elevation, poor life quality, general discomfort, gastrointestinal upsets, diarrhea, constipation, etc. Several epidemiological studies pointed out that long-term shift work might influence our metabolism, cardiovascular system, digestive system and immune system, etc., hence increased relative risk of stroke, coronary heart disease, obesity, hypertention, diabetes. For those who had history of chronic disease such as diabetes, hypertention, peptic ulcer, epilepsy, etc., shift work may exacerbate the existed diseases and result in bad outcomes. Shift work with frequent overloading working times may have strong impacts on physical and mental conditions, possibly induce cerebrovascular and heart diseases(i.e.cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, SAH, hypertensive encephalopathy, acute myocardial infarction, acute heart failure, aortic dissection, anginor pectoris, severe arrhythmia, sudden death etc.), for example, policemen, fire-fighters, occupational drivers sudden death reported on the newspapers. Occupational health-care workers should be responsible for assess their health check-up records, existed diseases, monthly working hours, properly adjust and arrange their work based on individual risk hazards.