van der Grinten, Taravan de Langenberg, Daniellavan Kerkhof, LindaHarding, Barbara N.Garde, Anne HeleneLaurell, CaisaVermeulen, RoelPeters, SusanVlaanderen, Jelle2025-07-312025-07-312025van der Grinten T, van de Langenberg D, van Kerkhof L, Harding BN, Garde AH, Laurell C, et al. Detailed assessment of night shift work aspects and potential mediators of its health effects: the contribution of field studies. Front Public Health. 2025 May 22;13:1578128. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.15781282296-2565http://hdl.handle.net/10230/71043Night shift work has been associated with adverse health outcomes, but inconsistencies in epidemiological findings reveal gaps in understanding the mechanisms involved. Beyond shift schedules (e.g., duration and intensity) and nighttime light exposure, we propose assessing ten key aspects to enhance understanding of shift work's nature and health implications. These include: (1) exposure-related factors ("meal timing and composition during the night shift," "physical activity during the night shift"); (2) potential mediators ("supplements and medication use," "social disruption," "sunlight exposure," "meal timing and dietary patterns outside shifts," "physical activity," "sleep quality," and "substance use"); and (3) effect modifiers ("occupational co-exposures"). Recent advances in technology, such as mobile apps, wearable sensors, and biomarkers, enable real-time, multidimensional assessments of these factors in field studies. Incorporating these tools into high-quality data collection can provide critical insights into the pathways linking night shift work and health. Such approaches will generate new hypotheses and inform the design of next-generation cohort and case-control studies, fostering a deeper understanding of this complex exposure and its health implications.application/pdfeng© 2025 van der Grinten, van de Langenberg, van Kerkhof, Harding, Garde, Laurell, Vermeulen, Peters and Vlaanderen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1578128Circadian rhythmLight exposureOccupational healthRisk factorsSleepWork schedule toleranceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess