Does Staying up all night give you CANCER ?

Question

WOW I am NO LONGER staying up all night working and watching tv.
i am really scared because im 30 year sold an dhave been doing this most of my life!!!!!!!
Tonight is the LAST NIGHT i plan to stay up til midnight.
mmm now when i have kids ill tell my future husband to get up for me to check on the kids. this seems to affect women the worst!
Night-shift work linked to cancer



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LONDON (AP) — Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a "probable" cause of cancer.
It is a surprising step validating a concept once considered wacky. And it is based on research that finds higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose work day starts after dark.

Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will add overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen. The American Cancer Society says it will likely follow. Up to now, the U.S. organization has considered the work-cancer link to be "uncertain, controversial or unproven."

The higher cancer rates don't prove working overnight can cause cancer. There may be other factors common among graveyard shift workers that raise their risk for cancer.

However, scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body's biological clock. The hormone melatonin, which can suppress tumor development, is normally produced at night.

If the graveyard shift theory eventually proves correct, millions of people worldwide could be affected. Experts estimate that nearly 20% of the working population in developed countries work night shifts.

Among the first to spot the night shift-cancer connection was Richard Stevens, a cancer epidemiologist and professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 1987, Stevens published a paper suggesting a link between light at night and breast cancer.

Back then, he was trying to figure out why breast cancer incidence suddenly shot up starting in the 1930s in industrialized societies, where nighttime work was considered a hallmark of progress. Most scientists were bewildered by his proposal.

But in recent years, several studies have found that women working at night over many years were indeed more prone to breast cancer. Also, animals that have their light-dark schedules switched develop more cancerous tumors and die earlier.

Some research also suggests that men working at night may have a higher rate of prostate cancer.

Because these studies mostly focused on nurses and airline crews, bigger studies in different populations are needed to confirm or disprove the findings.

There are still plenty of skeptics. And to put the risk in perspective, the "probable carcinogen" tag means that the link between overnight work and cancer is merely plausible.

Among the long list of agents that are listed as "known" carcinogens are alcoholic beverages and birth control pills. Such lists say nothing about exposure amount or length of time or how likely they are to cause cancer. The American Cancer Society website notes that carcinogens do not cause cancer at all times.

Still, many doubters of the night shift link may be won over by the IARC's analysis to be published in the December issue of the journal Lancet Oncology.

"The indications are positive," said Vincent Cogliano, who heads up the agency's carcinogen classifications unit. "There was enough of a pattern in people who do shift work to recognize that there's an increase in cancer, but we can't rule out the possibility of other factors."

Scientists believe having lower melatonin levels can raise the risk of developing cancer. Light shuts down melatonin production, so people working in artificial light at night may have lower melatonin levels.

Melatonin can be taken as a supplement, but experts don't recommend it long-term, since that could ruin the body's ability to produce it naturally.

Sleep deprivation may be another factor in cancer risk. People who work at night are not usually able to completely reverse their day and night cycles.

"Night shift people tend to be day shift people who are trying to stay awake at night," said Mark Rea, director of the Light Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, who is not connected with the IARC analysis.

Not getting enough sleep makes your immune system vulnerable to attack, and less able to fight off potentially cancerous cells.

Confusing your body's natural rhythm can also lead to a breakdown of other essential tasks. "Timing is very important," Rea said. Certain processes like cell division and DNA repair happen at regular times.

Even worse than working an overnight shift is flipping between daytime and overnight work.

"The problem is re-setting your body's clock," said Aaron Blair, of the United States' National Cancer Institute, who chaired IARC's recent meeting on shift work. "If you worked at night and stayed on it, that would be less disruptive than constantly changing shifts."

Anyone whose light and dark schedule is often disrupted — including frequent long-haul travelers or insomniacs — could theoretically face the same increased cancer risk, Stevens said.

He advises workers to sleep in a darkened room once they get off work. "The balance between light and dark is very important for your body. Just get a dark night's sleep."

Meanwhile, scientists are trying to come up with ways to reduce night workers' cancer risk. And some companies are experimenting with different lighting, seeking a type that doesn't affect melatonin production.

So far, the color that seems to have the least effect on melatonin is one that few people would enjoy working under: red.

Copyright 2007 The Associated

Blask, D.E., G.C. Brainard, et al. 2005. Melatonin-depleted blood from premenopausal women exposed to light at night stimulates growth of human breast cancer xenografts in nude rats. Cancer Research 65(Dec. 1):11174-11184. Abstract available at http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/23/11174.

Schernhammer, E.S., and S.E. Hankinson. 2005. Urinary melatonin levels and breast cancer risk. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 97(July 20):1084-1087. Abstract available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jnci/dji190.

wow what a bunch of mediocre minds reading this important news.

ill explain as simply as possible

melatonin slows down cell division and this reduces cancer rates.
the peak for melatonin acitivity is at 2-3 AM.
Blind women get 60% less breast cancer and this is attributed to melatonin production not being impeded.
Im really shocked by how quickly and foolishly all of you laugh at brilliant researchers findings.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

To be honest every other day there is something published on the news about even more so-called causes of cancer. I've given up trying to keep up with it all! Obviously I agree with the big ones (such as smoking) but I really am fed up about hearing how every little thing can cause cancer in some way. However, it doesn't surprise me that working night shifts would cause some kind of adverse effect, as we rely on the sunlight for a lot of health benefits. Going back to my original point though, if everyone listened to every single one of these cancer-causing theories we wouldn't be able to do anything at all!

Answer 3

I think this is absurd. I mean, is there anything left on the face of the earth that does not cause cancer? I stay up all night most every night. I am sorry.......how does your body really know if you are sleeping 8 hours a day or 8 hours a night? As long as you are getting ample sleep I would THINK that would be okay. Wow, it is just amazing to me that everything causes cancer. It is scary but if I worried about it every single time I heard or read a news report about finding something new that is linked to cancer. I could develope a major phobia actually...easily. Don't put way too much importance on these articles. I am not saying to ignore the warnings. I am just saying that you should soooooooo not let these things make you paranoid or afraid!n Life IS too short to live it in fear of everything.

Answer 4

I don't think so. That article is full of long winded conversation about whether or not it affects the body. I would say they need more research done before they can rule shift work as a cause for cancer.

Answer 5

This was mentioned earlier today on the cancer board. I would say it does probably have a link somewhere, but I dont think the research is conclusive.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Bah. Nowadays, the gov't uses cancer as a scare tactic. No one knows what causes cancer; they are all just taking stabs in the dark.

Answer 8

staying up all night is usually not a good thing to do because the level of growth hormone or the hormone that keeps you young and healthy increase during sleep and exercise and fasting....so if you stay up your growth hormone will drop and you get old quicker, if you do not exercise again your growth hormone will not surge and you get old quicker, and if you get fat and eating lots of sweet and fatty things again your growth hormone will drop and you will get old quicker and when you get old your chance of getting cancer is higher.

Answer 9

I stay up all night sometimes and i am happy and healthy and have never had any health problems and have never had to go to the doctor.

Answer 10

I certainly hope not, because I work night shift.