Working the night shift forces your body to operate on a schedule that goes against its natural circadian rhythms. It is possible to retrain your body to sleep during the day and stay awake during the night.
But if this retraining isn’t done correctly—or isn’t done at all—you can begin to suffer serious medical issues. Here’s how working the night shift can affect your health.
1) Interferes With Natural Sleep Rhythms
Sleep is extremely important for your overall health. While you slumber, your body gets rid of toxins, repairs injury, and reduces stress. Working the night shift interferes with those essential processes. That can lead to many of the disorders on this list.
2) Increases Risk Of Breast Cancer
Women who work overnight are at much greater risk of contracting breast cancer than those who only work during the day. And it doesn’t matter if you work the night shift consistently or just one night a week.
3) Increases Risk Of Heart Attack
A 2012 study in the British Medical Journal concluded that working the night shift caused a seven-percent increase in the likelihood that a person would suffer a heart attack. The study did not address why the risk was greater for those who work the night shift, but researchers theorize that the change in sleep habits affects blood pressure and circulation.
4) Increases Risk Of Depression
Working the night shift also has a negative impact on your mental health. Numerous studies show that the risk of depression and mood disorders increase when you work the night shift.
5) Increases Risk Of Obesity And Diabetes
Sleeping during the day and working at night increases your risk of obesity and diabetes. In the case of night-shift workers, these disorders are caused by an imbalance in hormone production. The real danger here is that even if you eat a healthy diet, the hormone imbalance can still lead to obesity and diabetes.
6 Ways To Combat The Effects Of Working Night Shifts
1) Transition Slowly
Managers should do their best to slowly transition employees from the day shift to the night shift. At the very least, this gives their body time to adjust to the new schedule. If you’re a busy manager faced with organizing team members on multiple day and night shifts, a scheduling app like Sling can simplify and streamline the process considerably.
2) Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol
Caffeine is a stimulant that is used to give you a quick boost of energy and keep you awake. The problem with caffeine lies in the fact that it stays in your system for hours after you feel the effects, and it can prevent you from sleeping well after work. Drink water whenever possible to avoid the problems caused by caffeine.
Alcohol can make you fall asleep faster, but it also reduces rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep is the restorative phase of your sleep cycle, so if you interfere with that by consuming alcohol, you effectively interfere with your body’s ability to repair itself.
3) Get some sunlight
When you’re not working, try to spend at least 30 minutes in the sun. Go for a walk, work in the garden, exercise outdoors, or even just sit and read a book. Doing so will provide your body with the vitamin D it needs to keep you healthy.
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