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Shift Work

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Manage episode 185246476 series 1530175
Content provided by Brock Armstrong. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Brock Armstrong or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

Hello, my law enforcement luminaries, military magnates, healthcare heavyweights, service station superstars, transportation troubadours, fire stations favourites, and call centre conquerors. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. Not yet, anyway. If I am doing my job correctly, you and I are both slowly but surely, episode by episode, becoming a Workplace Hero. You can think of me as your partner in this endeavour or maybe your information funnel, conduit… or crazy straw?

According to NSF's 2005 Sleep in America poll, 14% of North Americans take part in what is called shift work. Shift work is an employment practice designed to make use of, or provide service across, all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week (often abbreviated as 24/7). The practice typically sees the day divided into set periods of time (shifts) during which different groups of workers perform their duties.

Shift work often involves evening or night shifts, early morning shifts, and rotating shifts. Many industries rely heavily on shift work, among them is: Emergency responders & health care, Hospitality, Logistics, Manufacturing, Military, Public utilities & power, Telecommunications & media, Transportation, and Security, just to name a few.

The term "rotational shiftwork" covers a wide variety of work schedules and implies that shifts rotate or change according to a set schedule. These shifts can be either continuous, running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or semi-continuous, running 2 or 3 shifts per day with or without weekends.

As you probably already imagined, compared to their day shift counterparts, shift workers are more likely to suffer from insomnia as well as excessive daytime sleepiness (61% vs. 47% and 30% vs. 18% respectively).

I actually coach a shift worker over at SkywalkerFitness.ca. She is a pretty darn competitive marathon runner who works a rotational shift and we really have had to fight an uphill battle in terms of energy levels and the ability to do the prescribed workouts. There is also the challenge of keeping her feeling good and overcoming some of the hormonal fluctuations that tend to occur during night shifts. Then there are some serious issues that creep up when you’ve thrown a curve ball at your circadian rhythm like you do on a night shift.

And there have been several studies on this. Here are a few.

They did a study in the Journal of Workplace Health and Safety on the police and found that police officers who are working at night or on an evening shift basically had lower serotonin levels than their non-evening working counterparts. And serotonin is one of our measurements of happiness and also our ability to do things like be motivated to exercise. It is also very helpful in helping reduce appetite cravings.

In the International Journal of Cancer, it was reported that a woman’s risk of breast cancer increases by 30% from night shift work. And a big part of that is because of hormonal fluctuations in particular, estrogen dominance, with estrogen being a pro-growth hormone that can increase when your circadian rhythms are thrown off.

There is another study in the Science of Translational Medicine which found that night shift style work can increase your likelihood of developing diabetes or becoming obese. This was a relatively small study with only 21 individuals but it found that circadian disruption can cause some serious issues with insulin sensitivity. So that again, throws a curve ball if you’re trying to lose weight or even maintain your body weight while you’re working night shifts.

Another paper in the British Medical Journal found that working night shifts could cause you to be more likely to have a heart attack. Particularly ischemic strokes and coronary events were found to be higher in people who were working night shifts.

A paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Health Sciences found that shift workers had decreased sensitivity to leptin when working at night. Leptin is the hormone that plays a pretty significant role in regulating your weight and appetite as well as your blood sugar and insulin levels.

Working in shifts can nearly double your risk of suffering a workplace injury and that’s because of the drowsiness, the fatigue and the lack of focus that can occur when you are working with no exposure to natural light or in any situation where our brains have been ancestrally programmed that they should be asleep.

So, am I basically saying that shift workers are screwed then?

Well, I don’t wanna sound harsh but yes, to a certain extent, you have to accept the fact that if you are going to work night shifts, your hormones and metabolism are going to, as they say, take a hit.

But, the fact that you have an important and noble job or that you’re making more money per hour may outweigh many of those drawbacks. There is a risk vs. reward benefit especially if that’s how you are paying the bills and putting food on your table.

And speaking of bills and food, keep in mind the benefits of not having to grocery shop on an evening or weekend, commute during rush hour both ways, or fight the lineup at the movie theatre on a Saturday night. Having your life be upside down or backwards can have its advantages too!

Now, let’s take a closer look at the issues and what you heroic shift working maniacs can do about them.

Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder characterized by insomnia and excessive sleepiness affecting people whose work hours overlap with the typical sleep period.

Over at sleepfoundation.org they say that while shift work does create potential productivity advantages, it also has many inherent risks. Some of the most serious and persistent problems shift workers face are frequent sleep disturbance and associated excessive sleepiness. Sleepiness and fatigue in the work place can lead to poor concentration, absenteeism, accidents, errors, injuries, and fatalities.

The issue becomes more alarming when you consider that shift workers are often employed in the most dangerous of jobs, such as firefighting, emergency medical services, law enforcement and security. Managers and policy makers who are responsible for writing and enforcing rules regarding employee work hours must address the specific issues of a 24-hour work force in order to succeed and benefit from such a labor force.

Although addressing these issues may require some investment up front for training and other measures, the bottom line is that improved sleep in workers may lead to improved productivity. In fact, to ignore the needs of the shift worker is reckless and irresponsible when you consider that billions of dollars in yearly costs, thousands of deaths, and some of the most notorious of modern catastrophes such as the failure of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the crash of the Exxon Valdez have been attributed to human fatigue.

According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift work sleep disorder is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder. Circadian rhythm refers to the ~24hr rhythmic output of the human biological clock. It is considered a disorder because of the frequency with which people suffer from sleep disturbance and excessive sleepiness in trying to adapt to a shift work schedule.

The main complaint for people with shift work sleep disorder is excessive sleepiness. But other symptoms include: -Insomnia, -Disrupted sleep schedules, -Reduced performance, -Difficulties with personal relationships, -Irritability and depressed mood.

Unfortunately, treatment for shift work sleep disorder is limited. Both behavioural and pharmacological remedies can help alleviate symptoms but some research indicates that the body may never fully adapt to shift work, especially for those who switch to a normal slee...

  continue reading

33 episodes

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Shift Work

Workplace Hero

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Manage episode 185246476 series 1530175
Content provided by Brock Armstrong. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Brock Armstrong or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

Hello, my law enforcement luminaries, military magnates, healthcare heavyweights, service station superstars, transportation troubadours, fire stations favourites, and call centre conquerors. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. Not yet, anyway. If I am doing my job correctly, you and I are both slowly but surely, episode by episode, becoming a Workplace Hero. You can think of me as your partner in this endeavour or maybe your information funnel, conduit… or crazy straw?

According to NSF's 2005 Sleep in America poll, 14% of North Americans take part in what is called shift work. Shift work is an employment practice designed to make use of, or provide service across, all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week (often abbreviated as 24/7). The practice typically sees the day divided into set periods of time (shifts) during which different groups of workers perform their duties.

Shift work often involves evening or night shifts, early morning shifts, and rotating shifts. Many industries rely heavily on shift work, among them is: Emergency responders & health care, Hospitality, Logistics, Manufacturing, Military, Public utilities & power, Telecommunications & media, Transportation, and Security, just to name a few.

The term "rotational shiftwork" covers a wide variety of work schedules and implies that shifts rotate or change according to a set schedule. These shifts can be either continuous, running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or semi-continuous, running 2 or 3 shifts per day with or without weekends.

As you probably already imagined, compared to their day shift counterparts, shift workers are more likely to suffer from insomnia as well as excessive daytime sleepiness (61% vs. 47% and 30% vs. 18% respectively).

I actually coach a shift worker over at SkywalkerFitness.ca. She is a pretty darn competitive marathon runner who works a rotational shift and we really have had to fight an uphill battle in terms of energy levels and the ability to do the prescribed workouts. There is also the challenge of keeping her feeling good and overcoming some of the hormonal fluctuations that tend to occur during night shifts. Then there are some serious issues that creep up when you’ve thrown a curve ball at your circadian rhythm like you do on a night shift.

And there have been several studies on this. Here are a few.

They did a study in the Journal of Workplace Health and Safety on the police and found that police officers who are working at night or on an evening shift basically had lower serotonin levels than their non-evening working counterparts. And serotonin is one of our measurements of happiness and also our ability to do things like be motivated to exercise. It is also very helpful in helping reduce appetite cravings.

In the International Journal of Cancer, it was reported that a woman’s risk of breast cancer increases by 30% from night shift work. And a big part of that is because of hormonal fluctuations in particular, estrogen dominance, with estrogen being a pro-growth hormone that can increase when your circadian rhythms are thrown off.

There is another study in the Science of Translational Medicine which found that night shift style work can increase your likelihood of developing diabetes or becoming obese. This was a relatively small study with only 21 individuals but it found that circadian disruption can cause some serious issues with insulin sensitivity. So that again, throws a curve ball if you’re trying to lose weight or even maintain your body weight while you’re working night shifts.

Another paper in the British Medical Journal found that working night shifts could cause you to be more likely to have a heart attack. Particularly ischemic strokes and coronary events were found to be higher in people who were working night shifts.

A paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Health Sciences found that shift workers had decreased sensitivity to leptin when working at night. Leptin is the hormone that plays a pretty significant role in regulating your weight and appetite as well as your blood sugar and insulin levels.

Working in shifts can nearly double your risk of suffering a workplace injury and that’s because of the drowsiness, the fatigue and the lack of focus that can occur when you are working with no exposure to natural light or in any situation where our brains have been ancestrally programmed that they should be asleep.

So, am I basically saying that shift workers are screwed then?

Well, I don’t wanna sound harsh but yes, to a certain extent, you have to accept the fact that if you are going to work night shifts, your hormones and metabolism are going to, as they say, take a hit.

But, the fact that you have an important and noble job or that you’re making more money per hour may outweigh many of those drawbacks. There is a risk vs. reward benefit especially if that’s how you are paying the bills and putting food on your table.

And speaking of bills and food, keep in mind the benefits of not having to grocery shop on an evening or weekend, commute during rush hour both ways, or fight the lineup at the movie theatre on a Saturday night. Having your life be upside down or backwards can have its advantages too!

Now, let’s take a closer look at the issues and what you heroic shift working maniacs can do about them.

Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder characterized by insomnia and excessive sleepiness affecting people whose work hours overlap with the typical sleep period.

Over at sleepfoundation.org they say that while shift work does create potential productivity advantages, it also has many inherent risks. Some of the most serious and persistent problems shift workers face are frequent sleep disturbance and associated excessive sleepiness. Sleepiness and fatigue in the work place can lead to poor concentration, absenteeism, accidents, errors, injuries, and fatalities.

The issue becomes more alarming when you consider that shift workers are often employed in the most dangerous of jobs, such as firefighting, emergency medical services, law enforcement and security. Managers and policy makers who are responsible for writing and enforcing rules regarding employee work hours must address the specific issues of a 24-hour work force in order to succeed and benefit from such a labor force.

Although addressing these issues may require some investment up front for training and other measures, the bottom line is that improved sleep in workers may lead to improved productivity. In fact, to ignore the needs of the shift worker is reckless and irresponsible when you consider that billions of dollars in yearly costs, thousands of deaths, and some of the most notorious of modern catastrophes such as the failure of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the crash of the Exxon Valdez have been attributed to human fatigue.

According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift work sleep disorder is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder. Circadian rhythm refers to the ~24hr rhythmic output of the human biological clock. It is considered a disorder because of the frequency with which people suffer from sleep disturbance and excessive sleepiness in trying to adapt to a shift work schedule.

The main complaint for people with shift work sleep disorder is excessive sleepiness. But other symptoms include: -Insomnia, -Disrupted sleep schedules, -Reduced performance, -Difficulties with personal relationships, -Irritability and depressed mood.

Unfortunately, treatment for shift work sleep disorder is limited. Both behavioural and pharmacological remedies can help alleviate symptoms but some research indicates that the body may never fully adapt to shift work, especially for those who switch to a normal slee...

  continue reading

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