is working the night shift bad for your health?

Question

hello, i've been working the nightshift 10pm to 6am for about eight years and although at times i feel a bit physically drained due to lack of sleep does working nights have any other effects on your health?
thank-you for any comments.

Answer 1

yes, a lot of your bodies natural clocks/systems are regulated by sunlight.. so it can throw your body out of wack if you aren't getting the proper dose of sun.. also your skin produces vitamin D i believe it is when you are in the sun.. so you might be running a little low on that one if you aren't supplementing.. and finally you have to consider the mental effects, not just from your systems being off.. but from social life.. many people have fewer social events and fewer friends that work the night shift.. not because they aren't liked, but because they are on different schedules. in large cities that will probably be less of a problem.. but not everyone lives in large cities. :) there are also some things we don't have a full grasp of yet medically that low light causes.. for instance, the main university in Alaska has the highest suicide rate of any university in the US.. and it has been linked to the low levels of sunlight received there.

Answer 2

I worked nights for 15 years. What I did was make sure the room is dark that your sleeping in, (room darkening blind or even a blanket). Have a sloid routine for the nights you work, get home in the morning, turn the ringer off the phone, hot bath, NO CAFFIENE, turning on "white noise"(a fan or you can purchase on of those thingys that them at wal mart or where ever.

Set your alrm for the same time every day. I know this gets kinda messed up on your days off. I usually slept for 2 hours on my days off that way I was able to sleep at night and took a 3 hour nap before I went in on the following night.

I did call my doctor and checked in with him about it when I started nights way back when. As long as you get enough sleep and have a routine established and try to eat a healthy diet, you should be fine health wise.

Good luck and I hope I answered your question.

Answer 3

Only if you're job is being a vampire. Drinking blood can seriously F ya up, lol. Long as you get you're 6-8 hrs sleep doesnt matter if it's light or dark. Not getting enough sleep or being drained could happen if you worked 1st shift if you didn't go to bed early enough so the time factor of when you go to bed has no bearing on anything but rather how many hours you;re sleeping.

Answer 4

As well as lack of sleep i would be concerned over lack of daylight.
There are also studies which have shown long term fatigue in people including digestive problems, insomnia and blood pressure problems. This tends to be in people who have been doing it for many many years though. It is simply not a natural rythm for our bodies to be in.


on the otherhand im sure there are people who have been doing night shifts for years with very little problem at all. I guess its can vary body by body

Answer 5

For some people living in the dark can also cause depression, for a number of reasons. Lack of sleep and lack of light because you're used to day work, social separation because not as many people work nights.

I had a job that had extended night work for several months, a lot of people just couldn't hack it for these very reasons.

Answer 6

I am sure you will find many studies into working shifts. I work shifts and despite my best efforts, I NEVER sleep properly during the day - even when I have unplugged phones and doorbells, made the room as dark as possible etc.

Naturally we should sleep when it is dark and awake when it becomes light.

I guess if you have been working permanent nights for 8 years, your body is probably quite well adjusted although when I tried permanent nights it nearly finished me!

You need to sleep to clear your mind and for your body to relax and rejuvenate (I wish!) itself.

If you have concerns, try searching on-line for various studies and perhaps speak to your GP.

Answer 7

the main result which would be undesirable to your well-being is to no longer get adequate sleep. examine out the information above and shop on with the time table of having adequate sleep. the different ingredient which you're able to do to your well-being is get outdoors interior the evening when you upward push up and get some photograph voltaic into your physique and eyes. i think of those 2 important issues can counteract the main undemanding well-being outcomes of working nite shift.

Answer 8

I dont believe so. Its hard to switch our circadian rhythms around, since we're naturally designed to function more during daylight and less at night.

I believe the effects would be seen more in the extreme long term than short term, and i doubt they'd be very serious. So long as you're able to get your required allotment of REM recuperative sleep, your body would be able to replenish itself and function as usual.

My biggest concern is your body's ability to metabolize and produce the complex minerals and vitamins necessary for a healthy body. Things like certain b vitamins and vitamin D, which relates to calcium.

I imagine you're not living your entire life in darkness though :)

Answer 9

I work the night shift too. Hard to get used to sleeping in daylight. Your body doesn't make enough melatonin when you don't sleep right. There is a recent study out of China that suggests a lack of melatonin can lead to higher risk of prostate cancer.

Answer 10

Previous answers are incomplete, studies show women working night shifts have a far greater incidence of breast cancer, it is thought that this is to do with Melanin production. We seem to need to spend an extended period in complete darkness for good health. If you are going to work night shift ensure the room in which you sleep is equipped with black out curtains and that you use red light bulbs etc.