Working Night Shifts: 9 Health Facts Seen From Real Nighttime Workers
I currently live in the Philippines which is called as the ”Call Center Capital of the World”. My niece actually works as a night shift call center employee.Contrary to what I read online regarding the severe health effects of working night shifts, I see many night shift workers living happy healthy normal lives.
The night shift workers I have known have been working night shifts for years now and even have active normal day lives.
Could the online reports about the supposed severe effects of working night shifts be exaggerated?
Here are a few facts I have observed from knowing a lot of night shift workers:
Note: These facts were based on actual observation and interviews of night shift workers working mostly on call centers. It’s based on my own experience as well.
9 Health Facts Seen From Real Nighttime Workers:
1. Does it shorten your life?2. Rotating shifts
3. It affects everyone differently
4. Does it make you fat?
5. Redness in the eye and Eye bags
6. Sleeplessness
7. Caffeine and Cigarette addiction
8. Alertness
9. Strength
Final Words
The Details:
1. Does it shorten your life?
Numerous studies have indicated that working night shifts “CAN” lessen your life. The word “can” has been emphasized to show that there is still inconclusive evidence that night shifts actually lessen your life.
The studies indicated that because the human body is not designed to work at night but to rather sleep, it disturbs the human body’s natural “circadian rhythm” or the natural human body clock.
Once this is disturbed, it could throw the human body’s functioning out of whack and could cause for example the heart rate to become elevated, the brain to become unstable, and so on.
But there have been no actual evidence of people actually dying because they work night shifts.
While working night shifts might ”CONTRIBUTE” to the lessening of your life, it is not directly proven that working night shifts causes actual death or lessens life span.
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2. Rotating Shifts
Most health studies featured online have also centered on ”Rotating Night Shifts” which is very different from night shifts.
A person working on a fixed schedule of working nights is way different from a person who has to alternate between working day shifts and night shifts on a rotating schedule.
I have known night shift call center workers with a fixed night schedule who live healthy normal lives.
I have also known workers who work on alternating day and night shifts who have severe health issues.
The reason for the difference between the two set of workers is obvious. The body clock of night shift workers with fixed schedules eventually adjust to their night schedule while those with rotating day and night shifts don’t.
I know of a person who developed breathing problems while working on a rotating shift. His breathing problem went away when he worked a fixed night schedule.
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3. It affects everyone differently
I found interesting answers from the online forum Quora regarding the question: “Is that possible to work a night shift for a long period of time without any negative consequences for your well-being?”
For the most part, many commented that working night shifts did affect their health or lifestyle but nothing too severe.
After a certain time, many learned to cope with working night shifts. There are even some who commented that they has been working night shifts jobs for years and even 20 plus years and are coping well with their work.
But there are also comments from people who stated that even though they have been working for decades as night shift workers, they still say that they are not coping well.
This seems like a misnomer. If you’ve managed to stay on a job for decades then you must be coping with it at least.
There are even those who enjoy working night shifts. There are self-confirmed night owls who are happy to state that they would rather choose a night shift rather than a day shift job.
The reasons are varied, from not having to go through traffic to the quietness of the night, there are just people who enjoy the lifestyle of working nights.
Let us also not forget that people who work nights are paid higher than their daytime counterparts.
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4. Does it make you fat?
There is also a myth that people who work night shifts weigh heavier than their daytime counterparts.
I have observed that the call center agents I know tend to eat more even while doing their night shift job.
This might be due to the fact that the human body needs more energy to stay active when it should be sleeping and no matter what amount of adaption your body makes, it is very hard to alter your sleeping patterns.
But I have also seen night shift workers who have normal weight for their body size and even leaner. Since genetics plays a part in human body weight, I guess some people’s genetics predisposes them to be fat or thin even if they work or don’t work night shifts.
Another factor also could be the schedule of night shift workers. Exercising is usually done early in the morning or in the afternoon, a timeframe where night shift workers are resting.
Another factor could be boredom. There are night shift jobs that are geared towards maintenance mode rather than active mode.
For example, daytime security personnel usually walk around the perimeters they’re guarding continuously while nighttime security personnel just mainly monitor the perimeters using security cameras.
Since they are less active than their daytime counterparts, they might become bored and relieve their boredom by snacking.
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5. Redness in the Eye and Eye Bags
This is a general feature I see in most of the night shift workers I know. This is because they are more exposed to artificial lighting than normal sunlight.
Normal sunlight is generally not irritating to the human eye unless one looks directly in the sun. Artificial light on the other hand, could be very irritating.
This is because your eyes have to contend with the relative brightness of an artificial light and the dark background of the night.
The contrast between the two can be irritating. This is why many eye experts advise that you should get just the right amount of artificial light: not too bright but not too dark either.
Failure to do so might irritate the eyes which causes you to rub them which further aggravates the irritation.
Eye bags would also likely appear when your eyes are too irritated or too tired from staring at artificial lights like the screens of your smartphone or computer for long periods of time.
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6. Sleeplessness
Many night shift workers I know also complain of sleeplessness but there are others who say they sleep like a log.
The others who can’t sleep might probably have daytime surroundings that are not conducive to sleeping.
Our body clock base its schedule a large part not only to the actual time, but also to the surroundings around us. Make sure that you emulate nighttime conditions if you are about to sleep.
You should shut normal sunlight and artificial light when you are about to sleep. This means closing windows and even putting thick curtains on them so that sunlight won’t get through.
Since nighttime is generally quiet, make sure that your surroundings are quiet. This could mean insulating yourself from all daytime noise as much as possible. You could even go as far as putting sound insulation in your room.
Nighttime is also generally cooler than daytime. You need to make sure that the room you’re sleeping in is cool. This might involve using electric fans and even installing an air conditioner in your room.
Also, avoid drinking coffee and even tea when your night shift is about to end. These liquids may relax you as you unwind your night shift job, but they might keep you alert enough that you can’t sleep.
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7. Caffeine and Cigarette Addiction
If you are not a caffeine or cigarette user, then there is a very low chance that you would become addicted to caffeine and cigarettes.
I know of night shift workers who neither drink caffeine nor smoke. They for the most part consume other things like food or water.
If you are a caffeine drinker and/or a smoker, a night shift job would likely increase your dependence on the two.
This is because people who drink caffeine heavily and/or smoke a lot are already addicts to begin with and the mental stress of working nights only adds to it.
Being a former heavy caffeine drinker and smoker, I can attest to the fact the dependence people develop to these two, such that they become a ”crutch” in how one deals with the stresses and boredom of work.
You can become addicted to caffeine and smoking even without working a night job or having a stressful job. It’s actually down to the addiction nature of a person.
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8. Alertness
Almost every night shift worker I talked to said that they were less alert than if they were working a day shift.
I have even seen night shift workers falling asleep as they were doing their night shift job. But this is understandable, it is very hard to adjust someone’s body clock such that one retains their alertness even at night.
This is the reason why many nighttime drivers turn to coffee, cigarettes and even drugs to stay alert while driving at night.
There are even trucks that are equipped with computers that can determine if a driver is about to fall asleep.
If you are a nighttime worker, it is important that you get proper sleep in the daytime. This is because if you are sleep deprived, your body clock is more likely to overpower your senses that you will fall asleep without you even knowing it.
This is especially important if you are handling critical and even dangerous work at night, like something that involves driving a vehicle or operating a potentially dangerous machine.
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9. Strength
People who work nights are usually not at their best, strength wise as compared to when they are working during the day.
This is because your body is working double the effort than it is used to. Your body is trying to do your night job while at the same time trying to keep you awake.
Also, as previously stated, people who work night shifts have less opportunity to exercise as their daytime counterparts.
This is because people usually exercise early in the morning or in the afternoon right before and after their daytime work.
This might contribute to the popular notion that nighttime workers are not as healthy as their daytime counterparts, because most don’t have a regular exercise regime.
Also, there are nighttime workers who indulge heavily into caffeine, smoking and even drugs which weaken the body.
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Final Words
Based on actual observations and conversations with nighttime workers, I learned that people could adjust to nighttime work without serious repercussions to their health.
There are even those who have been working night shift jobs for decades already and are still living normal and healthy lives.
The more immediate thing you should be concerned about is working on a rotating shift night job where your body clock has to continuously adjust to varying day and night work schedules.
This is more dangerous than simple night work where your body clock in due time would adjust to.
There are even people who enjoy working at night and would happily choose working at night over working a day job.
In short, everyone is different. There are people whose body clock and lifestyle fits nighttime work and those who don’t.
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