What are the effects of night work on the health of the worker?
There are many jobs that have developed night work schedules: health professionals, security guards and night watchdogs, frequent flyers and airline pilots are just a few, if not all, examples of professionals performing much, if not all, of their night activities. They also show that night work significantly reduces quality of life and life expectancy, among other basic human factors.
- It is not easy to prevent this type of employment or period of work from taking place.
- As there are many basic public services that are performed at night.
- But there are many institutions that limit the nightly day.
With the increase in the number of establishments open 24 hours a day, many new night jobs are emerging, in addition, there are also professionals who are dedicated to cleaning streets, maintaining facilities that operate during the day such as train and metro. stations, for example, who work as drivers of vehicles such as trucks or buses.
We also have basic health professionals in this category, such as nurses, doctors and other areas of medicine and health who work continuously to provide the necessary care to all patients, these jobs do not exist exclusively on the night shift, but also on the day and afternoon shifts. In Brazil, millions of people work, in whole or in part, at night.
When we do not sleep at night, we cannot rest completely, this happens for biological reasons: our brain has developed to rest at night, people who work during this period sit between 1 and 2 hours less than the rest of the population, and only children under 35 working at night can sleep almost as much as those who do not have a night shift.
In addition, we should not only think about the amount of hours of sleep, but also about sleep quality, since in our body a hormone called melatonin is produced, which occurs at night because this hormone is responsible for regulating our biological rhythm at night. and during the day, what makes the body know when it’s daylight and when it’s dark?and therefore bedtime.
As a result, our body undergoes hormonal changes when we don’t rest at night, these changes also affect women, who experience changes during menstruation and are more likely to develop breast cancer. In addition, another effect of night work is loss. 5 years of life expectancy for 15 years of night work.
In addition to these changes, it is also quite common to see an increase in irritability and the chances of developing certain cardiovascular diseases, bad eating habits, digestive problems, sleep disturbances, chronic fatigue and even a decrease in social and family life.
When we have no choice but to work at night, it is essential to follow some tips that help our body function as close to normal as possible:
Sleep is a necessity, as is eating and drinking, and we must promote good sleep hygiene throughout the population to receive good services from those who work in this difficult condition, which is to be awake when the body wants to fall asleep.