Approved work: Digital Technology and the Future of Freight
This POSTnote will provide an overview of the digital technologies that may shape the future of freight.

A POSTnote that describes how working outside of daytime hours – shift work – affects physical and mental health and performance through its impact on sleep and circadian timing. It highlights the latest research, explains the implications for policy and how research can inform the design of interventions to improve shift workers' sleep and overall health.
Shift Work, Sleep and Health (480 KB , PDF)
Sleep is essential and interacts with many bodily systems. Two biological processes regulate the duration, quality and timing of sleep and determine chronotype (one’s measurable degree of “morningness” or “eveningness”):
Shift work – including night work and long working hours – is common to many sectors, with night workers comprising 12% of the UK workforce. Shift work can disrupt sleep and circadian timing, which can affect health and performance and increase the risk of accidents. Reducing its impact is a potential way to improve public health, health and safety in the workplace, and increase productivity.
Shift workers tend to have increased sleepiness during night shifts, and shorter and poorer quality sleep during the day. Chronic sleep and circadian disruptions can result in a diagnosis of shift work sleep disorder, which affects 10–30% of shift workers. Sleep and circadian disruptions are associated with a range of short- and long-term health effects in shift workers.
Shift work is common in healthcare, manufacturing, transport, communications, emergency services, security, entertainment and service industries, among others.
Key areas for policy discussed in the briefing include:
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer reviewed. POST would like to thank interviewees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:
*denotes people who acted as external reviewers of the briefing.
Shift Work, Sleep and Health (480 KB , PDF)
This POSTnote will provide an overview of the digital technologies that may shape the future of freight.
Palliative and end of life care are increasingly in demand as people are living longer and with multiple long-term conditions. However, an estimated 100,000 people in the UK that could benefit from palliative care die without receiving it each year. There is substantial evidence that inequalities in access to palliative and end of life care relate to various sociodemographic factors. Experts have highlighted that access to palliative and end of life care may improve quality of life for patient and family and reduce symptom burden. This POSTnote summarises the key components of palliative and end of life care and recent changes in UK policy. It identifies inequalities and challenges to accessible provision. It also reviews evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of care and outlines key trends.
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