Negative Effects or Working in Night Shift

I'm working as a link builder in one of the outsourcing companies here in the Philippines, and I've been working for more than a year now on a night shift, but still my body is still not yet (and I don't think it will be) adjusted to my sleeping schedule. My eating habits has drastically changed and aside from not having enough sleep, it seems that I can't also have enough time for myself since I am working at night then sleep at daytime with only a few hours of sleep. I'd be lucky enough to sleep for more than five hours a day which only happens sometimes. I've practically tried every sleeping tip I know from making my bedroom as dark as possible to eating foods that may help for better sleeping, but it did only a little help. At times when I desperately need to rest and sleep but my body just resist, I even take paracetamol or anti allergy medicines. So I did some research on how night shift affects one's body. I am aware that it's not good nor healthy so I try to avoid it now. So I did some research on other scientifically proven facts on the effects of night shift on our body.


When you are awake at night and asleep during the day, your body does not receive powerful biological cues from the amount of light in the environment. These cues are necessary to regulate the circadian rhythms that control your sleep/wake cycle and this causes difficulty in falling asleep and getting enough deep sleep. An additional problem is switching from a night schedule to a day schedule on days off, or during changes in your work shift. This switching causes the same effects as jet lag. Working on a night shift may lead to an increased risk of insomnia and other sleep disorders. Night shift work has also been shown to increase the risk of heart and digestive problems, as well as problems with moods and emotions. Night shift workers are at an increased risk for safety accidents due to tiredness.


Seattle - Oct. 16, 2001 - Women who work the graveyard shift may face an up to 60 percent increased risk of breast cancer, according to a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study. Led by Scott Davis, Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division, the study is one of two independent investigations. Davis and colleagues found that women who worked the graveyard shift at least once during the decade before breast-cancer diagnosis were at approximately 60 percent increased risk for breast cancer compared with those who did not work the graveyard shift. In addition, the risk of breast cancer significantly increased with each additional hour per week of graveyard-shift work.


Also according to the study from the different sources, here we are providing some informative message for this topic. People who work nights are more prone to a dangerous heart condition - possibly because of the chronic stress caused by their work patterns. A research suggests that “employees who worked in day shifts are more safe then the night shift employees. The chances of heart attack are very high for the night shift employees few more reasons are lack of sleep, continue stressing etc, chronic stress is cited as the main reason.” Mostly it happens because human body’s natural circadian rhythms tell that the concerned person should not be working when he or she should take sleep.

These information surely bothers not only me but also for others who works at this kind of job but I think we have to deal with it because this unhealthy lifestyle is our source of living.