![]() and our evolution hasn’t figured out how to deal with that yet.” “So if you spin that around, you are basically trying to reprogram your body. “Our bodies are tied to that natural circadian rhythm where the sun goes down, and our body starts winding down and when the sun comes up, our bodies want to wake up,” said Brantner. Part of the problem is that going against the natural day-night cycle has only been picked up by many workers and students in the last 100 years or so. And then there’s simple fatigue, which can lead to car accidents, poor decision-making and worsening mood.ĪLSO READ: Women who do this all night suffer the most at work the next day Night-shift work has also been associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and stress. Plus, the night shift lifestyle is linked with behaviors that increase cancer risk, such as getting insufficient sleep, smoking, eating junk food and getting less sleep. Women on rotating night shifts for 15 years or more were 23% more likely to die from CVD, and 25% more likely to die from lung cancer. In 2015, an international team of researchers studied women working rotating night shifts for five or more years, and found they carried an 11% greater mortality risk from all causes, and a 19% greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) death. ![]() That’s recently come into question by a 2016 Oxford study, but a 2012 study of 18,500 Danish women between 19 found those that worked nights had a 40% higher risk of developing breast cancer. The World Health Organization classified night shift work as a probable carcinogen in 2007 because its disruption to the body’s circadian rhythm - which signals our cells to produce specific hormones at specific times based on a 24-hour day-night cycle - appears to have cancer-causing effects. “There are all kinds of physical and mental issues with night-shift work that mirror what we’ve seen for short sleepers in general,” Chris Brantner, a certified sleep coach and founder of, told Moneyish. And toiling overnight takes its toll on them.ĪLSO READ: Not getting enough sleep - like Gayle King - makes us worse at work. Most are blue-collar workers like police officers and firefighters, nurses, bartenders and food servers, manufacturing plant employees and transportation workers. ![]() to 7 a.m.), rotating shifts (taking turns covering continuous 24-hour shifts, like in hospitals, running two or three shifts per day), or other irregular schedules. I was ‘class mom’ and went on field trips.”Ībout 15 million Americans work full time on evening shifts (until 11 p.m. “I’d end up doing laundry or getting dinner together. “I missed a lot of sleep because I had a hard time sleeping during the day,” she said. She didn’t have a choice when she was first assigned nights at age 26, as the day shifts went to veteran nurses, but said the schedule actually worked for her family because she could come home in time to put the kids on the school bus in the morning, nap, and then take care of chores and picking them up from school in the afternoon while her husband worked. And not seeing the sun, you feel so off and tired all of the time, and you’re cranky.” “Weight gain was a big issue for the night girls - because you’re sleeping half the day when you should be eating, and then eating when your body should be sleeping. “But nobody ever really gets used to working the night shift and sleeping during the daytime,” she told Moneyish. three days a week as a labor and delivery nurse for 11 years. Melissa Calvo, 43, a Long Island mother of three, worked from 7 p.m. I enjoy the work, and the people I work with.” “I may sleep a short time and wake up still tired,” he said, adding, “although it has been rough, I am happy. Guimaraes also suffers from sleep apnea, which makes the six hours of sleep he gets - already short of the recommended seven to nine hours - even less restful. four nights a week, and works until anywhere from 7 a.m. He began working night shifts in 2016 because it pays $3 more per hour than the day rate. “I have been more irritable, and have had an increased appetite,” said Guimaraes, 44, a direct support professional for the developmentally disabled, whose duties include giving medication, cooking, light housework and providing transportation for two Florida group homes.
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