Hey, Nurses: Is Night Shift Killing You?
- skoe03
- May 2
- 2 min read
In 1988 a study conducted and later published by the National Institute of Health found that in a cohort study of 74, 862 registered U.S. female nurses, who had 5 or more years working night shift had an increased mortality.
Fast Forward 22 Years (2010)
14,181 deaths were documented -The most prevalent causes of death were cardiovascular health and cancer.
Disclaimer
BMI, comorbidities, and overall health choices (such as smoking) did play a role, as expected, but the main issue in working night shift was evident in one's circadian rhythm.
Circadian Rhythm
This is your biological clock. It controls things like:
sleep patterns
Hormones
appetite/digestion
body temp
A complete cycle takes 24 hours. It’s controlled by your brain.
There’s a lot that can alter your circadian rhythm, but one sure fire way to throw it off course is to work when your body wants to sleep. Like in the study, long exposure to night life can cause:
-Cancer
-Cardiovascular Disease
-Gastrointestinal Disorders
-Mental Health Disorders
And more! **Why??- Because disrupting your biological clock interferes with cellular function. Cells repair themselves when you’re sleeping. If you’re not getting CONSISTENT, REGULAR sleep, cell damage occurs, your body’s defenses are down, hormones are altered, stress is elevated, and disease creeps their way in.
You feel like you can’t do anything about working night shift:
1. The pay is too good.
2. This is the only shift that works for childcare
3. I feel like my soul is dying when I have to get up at 0530 in the morning
4. I don’t want to deal with bureaucracy during day shift.
5. I don’t want to switch to day shift. I like the vampire life.
**There’s always something you can do. The question is, how bad do you want it? How determined are you to make a change?
If You’re Determined to Stay a Vampire:
1. Eat better! CONSISTENTLY! This will help ward off GI and metabolic issues later on down the road.
2. Talk to family every day! - It's good for you!
3. PRIORITIZE your sleep! Stop staying up for 24+ hours. If not for yourself then for your patients! Their SAFETY depends on it!
Take Care of Yourself!
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