If you’re among the one in five North Americans who work a night shift, swing shift or rotating shift, you may enjoy easy traffic, quiet phones and absent bosses. But those schedules pose potential risks to your health: Depression, weight gain, stomach trouble and irritability are common complaints, not to mention fertility problems or breast, prostate and colon cancers. And here’s the latest news: Add heart attacks and strokes.
Seems that whether you’re a doctor (our profession has been getting some “burnout” press lately), nurse, factory worker, policeman or call-center employee, gearing up while the rest of the world winds down throws off your body clock. That messes with hormone levels and disrupts the natural rhythm of many of your body’s systems. Normally, your heart rate, metabolism and brain go into slow-down mode after dark.
