Surviving the night shift

Alamy

Of Amir Khan

Night work is difficult. Sleep when the sun is shining and the work when it's dark can take a real toll on your sleep schedule , but believe, could affect more than your ZZZS know? The 15 million Americans who work nights are at high risk for the development of several chronic diseases - but the good news is that sleep experts say that it is possible to combat this danger, without leaving your job.

Night work can with the circadian rhythm, the internal clock, which regulate metabolism, hormones, and other biological processes helps disturb. Your circadian rhythm is regulated by sunlight in part, and if you sleep during the day, he threw his rhythm and leads to less sleep and lower sleep quality, says Barbara Phillips, medical director of Sleep Laboratory at the University of Kentucky.

"Shift workers have repeatedly for one to three hours less sleep in a 24 hour period that workers shown not improvised, and the sleep they can get more be fragmented and less well," he says. "Even awake in the dark and try to sleep during the day affects the secretion of hormones and many chemicals, and this may be part of the problem."

There are many health risks
This lack of sleep and hormone threatens a variety of health issues, Phillips said. "Shift workers have an increased risk of obesity, cancer, prostate for men, breast [cancer] for women, ulcers, complications during pregnancy, diabetes and heart disease," she DIT.

One of the strongest links between night work and breast cancer. A 2012 study in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine published saw 18,500 Danish women who worked and found that night work increases the risk of developing cancer of women 40 percent of the nights from 1964 to 1999.

There is also an increased risk for diabetes that comes with the risk of night work - a study of 2013 found that shift work was published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine at risk 9 percent of diabetes mainly associated, poor eating habits and metabolic changes who come home from work at night.

Night work does not come with physical effects, says Stephanie Dailey, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Argosy University in Arlington, Virginia, but the mental and emotional impact. "If you work at night, you develop a sense of fear, because they are constantly walking time difference," he said. "You will experience a decrease in the ability to pay attention, which is a problem because many of these jobs require precision and diminished cognitive abilities actually inhibits their function."

A 2012 study in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine Emergency physicians in several intelligence tests administered before and after their shifts. A test focused on how they could remember the words. The researchers found that after the night shift, doctors could be much fewer words compared with the doctors who worked remember the day shift. They also reported worse sleep quality.

Workers in night shifts higher load also report Dailey that comes with its own problems, said. "We have not so well under stress," he said. "People who work at night report higher levels of anxiety, depression, relationships. Which means that we somehow separated from their friends and family so that they feel isolated."

So, how to reduce risks? The shift to a day shift is the best, but it is not always possible, the Dailey. Instead, first try to reset your internal clock. "Try to keep a regular sleep cycle," she said. "Go to bed and you are at the same time every day, even when you are traveling."

Avoid rocking approach
Then, try to avoid "rocking" approach to work - you can include talking with your boss about your hours. "Try to avoid working a few days on the night shift and then a few days on the day shift," Dailey said. "If you can, try to work every day in the same layer."

Can also try to fix your melatonin levels, Phillips said. Melatonin is a hormone that regulates produced by sunlight, sleep and night workers tend to produce lower levels. "Melatonin seems to have a role in cancer, this decrease in melatonin secretion may be part of the reason for the increased cancer risk among shift workers," says Phillips. "Taking melatonin 3 mg at night, the length and quality of sleep may improve after a night shift."

Two drugs, modafinil and armodafini are to increase the monitoring of night workers, but Phillips says she does not because of the side effects and costs, including hallucinations and depression has they recommend. Instead, Phillips recommends coffee and a nap during the day - and help to avoid drugs, you sleep. "Sleeping pills do not improve sleep duration or quality after a night shift, and I can not recommend it," he said.

Pay attention to your body
The key to surviving the night shift takes only your body, Dailey said. If you do not, you will never feel good, no matter how many or how much you try taking melatonin to reset your internal clock. "It's a domino effect," he said. "Night work causes bad decision, which means that we. No good choices about what to eat., Affecting our health and puts us at risk for chronic diseases"

After all, not everyone who works the night shift is the development of these health conditions, Phillips said. But, he asks, is it really worth the risk? "There are certain biological and genetic variations in the human resistance against night work and sleep loss," says Phillips. "Some people can actually very good with shift work, but most do not, and some are really suffering."