What problems come from living against natural day and night cycles?

PTE Academic writing question in the official format, with a full model answer and notes on why it scores. Write your own version below it and get an instant rater-style score.

The question

Artificial light and around-the-clock cities mean many people no longer follow natural cycles of day and night. What problems does this create, and how could they be addressed? Support your answer with examples.
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Model answer

Artificial light has quietly abolished night in most cities, and human bodies are paying for a schedule they never evolved to keep. The most direct problem is medical. Bodies run on circadian rhythms, and decades of research link chronic night work with higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and depression. Night-shift workers, from nurses to drivers, effectively subsidise the 24-hour city with their health. A second problem is social: when work colonises every hour, families in the same house can live in different time zones, and the shared evening that once held communities together stops existing. Finally there is a subtle cognitive cost, since sleep deprived populations learn less, react slower and make worse decisions, which no economy can afford indefinitely. Solutions exist at three levels. Employers can rotate shifts forward, limit consecutive nights and pay premiums that reflect the real health cost. Governments can regulate lighting, protect a right to disconnect, and require medical monitoring for night workers, as several European countries already do. Individuals can defend their own rhythms with dark bedrooms, fixed sleep windows and morning light exposure. In conclusion, the city that never sleeps is an achievement with a hidden invoice, paid in cardiac wards and quiet family estrangement. We cannot switch the lights off, but we can schedule civilisation a little more like the species that built it.

Why this answer scores

  1. Problem-solution structure with problems grouped medical, social and cognitive, easy for a rater to follow.
  2. Solutions assigned to three distinct actors, showing organised development.
  3. 'An achievement with a hidden invoice' is the kind of precise image that lifts vocabulary scores.

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