Is shift work bad for our health?

Let's look at the extent to which shift work negatively affects our health and well-being.

At night, our body asks for rest, and in the daytime it wants to be active.. This is a maxim of chronobiology, the science that studies the Biological schedules to which our organism is subjected, but the way of life driven by our societies based on the division of labor seems to sometimes ignore this phenomenon.

But to what extent is it a problem to "force" our biological clock due to the demands of our job?

There are many jobs where night shifts exist, such as in the healthcare and security sectors. Having to stay awake at night and sleep during the day can lead to a lot of metabolic stress if not well managed and, as a result, can lead to alterations in our health.

Today we are going to see how shift work affects our health and what can be done to alleviate the effects of night work. and we will see what can be done to alleviate the effects of night work schedules.

What happens when we force the biological clock?

Normally, during the hours of greater sunlight, our organism is prepared to remain active; this is so because there are a series of neuroendocrine mechanisms that predispose us to be more or less close to a "state of alertness" and to have a greater capacity to concentrate on the task at hand. and to have a greater capacity to concentrate on specific tasks.

Thus, during the day, our nervous system and our network of hormone-secreting glands are coordinated so that our psychological state allows us, as far as possible, to take advantage of the potential of an environment bathed in sunlight, in which there are many things to do.

This changes when night falls, the time to prepare for rest. Our sleep-wake cycle is strongly determined by the hours of sunlight, being the light of the sun the one that regulates the production of melatonin, a hormone responsible for the regulation of sleep itself and that induces us to sleep when night falls.

However, in certain work environments, such as healthcare, it is not always possible to go to sleep when it is nighttime.. Especially hard is the world of doctors and nurses, where emergencies do not rest and, therefore, neither can health workers afford it. There must always be people who can attend to patients and, for this reason, in the health sector there are different shifts, the worst of which is the night shift, since the body is forced to do the exact opposite of what it should do, work when it is time to sleep.

But, in general, the demands of a world increasingly oriented towards the global economy and the specialization of tasks mean that many jobs go hand in hand with the need to adapt to shifts. many jobs go hand in hand with the need to adapt to shifts, some of which take place in the middle of the night.some of which take place in the middle of the night.

Possible physical and mental consequences of shift work.

Our body is a biological machine that, when forced, begins to show alterations due to the metabolic stress to which we submit itThis is especially so because we rest and eat at unexpected hours. This is especially tiring if we are one of those who change work shifts every two to three hours, since we make our body has to constantly reset the biological clock.

All this brings with it several alterations, among which we can highlight:

• Mood: irritability, moodiness, depression, anxiety...
• Concentration problems.
• Sleep problems: difficulty falling asleep during the day.
• Listlessness: lack of motivation, more laziness, anhedonia...
• Eating behavior problems: eating after hours, more, less, obesity...
• Premature aging: damaged skin, hair loss, wrinkles...

Of special mention is the Burnout Syndrome (or Burnout Syndrome), a psychic alteration manifested by many workers physically and psychologically exhausted by their job, something that those who have constant changes of work shifts have all the chances of suffering. Because they are exhausted in all aspects of their life, burned-out workers are more likely to make mistakes, especially at night than at work.Especially at night, when performance is already lower and concentration and reflexes are poorer.

In the long run, long night shifts bring with them greater repercussions. According to research conducted by Dr. Eva Schernhammer and colleagues with 75,000 nurses and carried out over 22 years, it appeared that shift workers, for more than 5 years, were between 10% and 19% more likely to die from anything, varying by disease.varying according to the disease. What this research came to say is that there was a significantly increased risk of dying from diseases such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and any other medical condition in this type of population.

What can be done to avoid these effects?

The measures to be taken to prevent shift work from affecting our health depend on the type of night shifts and the frequency with which we work them.. It should be noted that it is preferable to keep night shifts short and to have them only one day a week.

In these cases, the best thing to do is to continue adapting to the daytime rhythm of life, avoiding going straight to sleep at the end of the night shift. It is better to hold out a little and stay awake until nightfall, going to sleep early in the evening and thus better maintaining the biorhythms.

In case you always have the night shift (e.g., night watch), it is best to try to keep that schedule. it is best to try to maintain this schedule even on possible holidays.. The best thing to do is to try to make three or four hours of sleep coincide with what we usually do the rest of the week, in order to be able to rest and not feel so tired during the hours of the day when we are awake. In this way, a certain work-life balance can be achieved, although it must be said that working every day at night is difficult.

The worst option is to have two day shifts, two afternoon shifts and two night shifts. In this case, the work situation is halfway between day and night, which is very complicated. Even so, one should try to live with the daytime schedule as much as possible. In the event of having two consecutive nights, we should try to go to sleep in the morning, at the end of the first night shift, otherwise we will start the next night shift very tired. To rest, it will be necessary to set up a space where we are well insulated from the sun, with the blinds down or using a blindfold.

Whatever our case may be, it is necessary to mention the importance of the exercise, a great stabilizer of the biological rhythm and that so effective that it is and that it is so effective that it is even recommended for cases of jet lag. If we move around during the night shift we will be able to stay awake and not lose concentration, having a more activating effect than caffeinated beverages.

We should also watch our diet, since maintaining a healthy diet is not only a protective factor against mental and physical health problems, but it will also help us to better manage the effects of night shifts. An example of this is foods containing tyrosine, an amino acid found in cheese, ham, eggs and whole-grain bread, which helps to produce two important neurotransmitters to keep us awake: dopamine and noradrenaline.

Other ideal foods for regulating our sleep, especially for falling asleep, are those containing tryptophan. This is an amino acid that helps produce serotonin and melatonin, the neurotransmitters that prepare us for sleep and that our body naturally secretes in the evening. Some foods that contain tryptophan are fruits such as bananas, nuts, chicken, turkey, fish and leafy vegetables.

On the other hand, it is very important to modify our meal times as little as possible.. In this way we will minimize the impact that shift work will have on our physiological and psychophysical processes. It may be useful to have food prepared for cases in which you do not have time to cook according to your schedule, although ideally the food should be as fresh as possible.