Many professions require 24x7 functioning which, in turn, also means working night shifts for many employees. While it may seem harmless at the beginning, night shifts are not good for the body’s biological clock - also called “circadian rhythm” - and can wreak havoc on your health, pointed out Dr Umo Naidoo, MD, Harvard Nutritional Psychiatrist in an Instagram post. “Our natural sleep cycle, also known as our 'circadian rhythm,' helps us to maintain a consistent pattern of sleeping and waking. When it’s misaligned, though, we may begin to experience negative health consequences," she added. Elaborating on the harmful effects of night shifts, Dr Naidoo wrote, “Notably, those who work night shifts have a 25 to 40 percent higher risk of depression and anxiety, partly due to a misalignment between the central circadian clock and daily environmental/behavioural cycles”. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Uma Naidoo, MD (@drumanaidoo) How working night shifts negatively affects your health Working night shifts can interfere with the body's normal circadian rhythm, which further impacts how well you sleep. Working late at night and getting insufficient sleep can further deteriorate one's mental state and lead to anxiety, anger, depression and irritability. “Working late can cause an imbalance in hormone production as well as a disruption of the 24-hour biological clock that regulates our sleep-wake cycles,” Dr Babina NM, Chief Medical Officer, Jindal Naturecure Institute, told indianexpress.com. Night shifts are also bad for your heart Regularly staying up at night can also increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases, including your risk of heart attack and hypertension. “Night shift leads to obvious disruption in the circadian rhythm, which has several short and long term consequences,” pointed out Dr Sarthak Rastogi, Consultant-Pulmonology, SL. Raheja Hospital, Mahim - A Fortis Associate. Elaborating how cardiac health is compromised by staying up at night, Dr Rastogi continued, “Cardiologic health is severely impacted as there is a higher risk of developing hypertension, cardiac arrests, and heart attacks during night shifts, as there is a higher stress response in the body at the time when one is supposed to be resting”. Shift work also leads to increased errors at night, social isolation, mood disorders, and excessive sleepiness as well as fatigue, he added. Also, due to the consumption of energy-rich food by people working in night shifts, “there is a dysregulation of hunger hormone ‘ghrelin’ and satiety hormone ‘leptin’. There is an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes etc. These further may increase the incidence of cancer and heart diseases,” Dr Rastogi added. Can eating at night also aggravate mood swings and depressive symptoms? Quoting a recent study, Dr Naidoo wrote, "Daytime eating prevents mood vulnerability in night work.stimulated nightwork with daytime and nighttime eating increased depression like mood levels by 26.2 percent.and anxiety like mood levels by 16.1 percent compared to baseline”. This increase in depressive and anxious symptoms was not observed in the night work group that ate only during daytime hours, suggesting a possible “meal timing intervention that may prevent mood vulnerability in shift work settings”. However, more studies are required to confirm these findings, she pointed out. 📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don't miss out on the latest updates!
