Is working at night bad for you?

In some jobs, working the night shift is unavoidable. There are hospitals to run, planes to fly and shops to keep open as we move towards a 24-hour society. With careful planning and a bit of peace during the daytime, it is possible to work all night and still get eight hours sleep the follow day. Some people will even tell you they don’t mind and that they get used to working in this way. But can their bodies ever become fully accustomed to working to a clock turned upside down? And, more worryingly, is nocturnal labour bad for your health?

There are two elements to these questions. One is about how we feel – our mental wellbeing. People are right to say they get used to shift work. There’s evidence that we cope with subsequent night shifts better than the first of a series, but some people find it much harder than others.

A Canadian study monitored the timing of the sleep, the light levels and the quantity of the sleep hormone melatonin produce by a small group of police officers as they embarked on a week of night shifts. Usually we release melatonin late in the evening when we start feeling tired and ready for bed. If you’ve adapted well to working nights, the peak will move to daytime instead. In this study, those whose pattern of melatonin production showed they had made that adjustment felt happier and more alert, as well as showing faster reaction times – but only 40% managed to make the switch.  

In a larger study of more than 3,000 police officers working shifts in Canada and the US, the consequences for those who were unable to adjust were clear, with 40% diagnosed with some kind of sleep disorder.

Even if you do feel OK, there’s also the question of whether your body could be suffering in the long-term. When it comes to assessing the physiological effects, one of the problems is differentiating between the impact that shift work might have on your lifestyle from the direct impact of working during the night. It is harder to eat healthily or to exercise regularly if you’re working shifts. Not only is a salad harder to obtain during the night, but it’s probably not what you feel like when you’re trying to keep yourself awake. This tempts people towards snacks and takeaways. Pizza and curry may be convenient and make you feel better, but of course eating them every night isn’t very healthy. There’s also less opportunity for exercise. While you might manage to drag yourself to the gym at the end of a day’s work, it’s that much harder to do that at the end of your shift if you’re already been up all night and are yearning for a nap.

Airline pilots were found to be happier on the days they were resting compared with those where they worked early or late shifts. Of course it’s not unusual to prefer your day off to the days you have to get up and go to work, regardless of the time. But the researchers also found that when the pilots worked the early shift they had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol on waking and produced more cortisol throughout the day. In the long-term, high levels are thought to be associated with an increased the risk of heart problems and high blood pressure. 

(BBC)

Bakudaily.Az