Dr. Tushar Tayal, Internal Medicine Doctor, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram (India) - said, our body has a natural circadian rhythm with a 24-hour cycle, which is part of the internal biological clock. body, running in the background to perform essential functions and processes.
This circadian rhythm can be disrupted in night shift workers when they go to work. Therefore, maintaining a consistent sleep routine and schedule is an important thing you can do to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.
Researchers from Washington State University, US have revealed that night shifts can throw the body's protein rhythms involved in regulating blood sugar into chaos. Just working the night shift three days in a row is enough to increase the risk of certain diseases such as diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders.
Sharing the same opinion, Dr. Ashish Mishra, interventional cardiologist at Wockhardt Hospital (India) shared the negative effects of working night shifts including:
1. Heart attack: Changes in sleeping habits tend to affect blood pressure and blood circulation, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, especially for people who often stay awake and work night shifts.
2. Fatigue: Working night shifts causes many health problems including physical and mental. An important problem is circadian rhythm disturbance, making people susceptible to insomnia and fatigue. Therefore, people who have to stay up at night will not be able to easily perform daily tasks or find it difficult to concentrate on work.
3. Depression: Working long night shifts can cause depression and other mood disorders such as anxiety, stress and adjustment disorder due to lack of sleep affecting a person's social relationships. People may become irritable, frustrated, upset, lethargic and feel lonely.
4. Insomnia: Working night shifts affects the body's natural circadian rhythm and leads to irregular sleep patterns and insomnia.
5. Weight gain and abnormal blood sugar levels: Working night shifts will disrupt the body's circadian rhythm, leading to unhealthy eating and lack of physical activity.
Night shift workers may eat high calories and unhealthy foods like namkeen, samosa, chips or cola... and may experience weight gain and obesity .
Additionally, eating during the night shift can affect insulin sensitivity and people may have abnormal blood sugar levels increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes .
6. Gastrointestinal problems: People who work night shifts tend to eat unhealthy foods without observing meal times. This can affect the intestines and people will experience problems such as heartburn, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea.
