How does working at night affect your health?

Many people have to work at night for one reason or another. Some deliberately choose this mode of work. Others have ongoing work schedules or shift work.

Professions employed at night include medical workers, rescue workers, police officers, security guards, workers in 24-hour institutions, and workers in large enterprises with a continuous production cycle.

Regardless of the circumstances, working at night has its own characteristics and consequences for human health and socialization.

The human body is a complex mechanism that has developed certain biorhythms . It is they who predetermine for people an active lifestyle during daylight hours and a passive pastime at night. Even dividing people into “larks” and “night owls” does not change the situation. Disruption of thousand-year rhythms can negatively affect human health.

Pros of working at night

Working in the dark has a number of positive aspects:

• Work on the night shift is paid higher than similar work during the day (this norm is enshrined in law).
• For students who have classes during the day, working at night is a great way to earn extra money.
• Some few individuals are actually more energetic at night and are unable to lead an active life during the day. For them, getting a job in the dark is almost the only possible option.
• Working at night allows people to free up daytime time to care for their families and visit government agencies and shops. True, such a rhythm of life cannot be maintained for a long time. The body needs rest, and this way of life does not allow the body to rest.
• One of the positive aspects of working at night is the lack of supervision at the workplace.
• Night shifts help avoid conflicts in the family . Most people work during the day and by evening the whole family gathers in one place. Leaving for work at the same time as avoiding controversial issues in a family environment.

How to minimize the harm from night shifts?

Having figured out how night shifts affect a woman’s health, the site sympaty.net has selected several tips that will help minimize the harm of night shifts. Of course, ideally, you still need to get up at dawn and go to bed at sunset, but, unfortunately, not everyone has this opportunity, because there are different professions.

Try to choose a stable schedule

Even if you have to work night shifts, it is important to maintain a consistent routine throughout the day.

It is better to determine the exact work schedule in advance and not work “three days during the day” and “three days” at night, and then have several days off, but constantly at the same hours.

The more frequently your schedule changes, the harder it is for your body to adjust, and the more stress it will experience.

Be sure to get enough sleep

Even if you can only sleep during the daytime, do not forget that you need to sleep at least 7 hours. Usually, when returning from a night shift, many people try to do some more household chores, but it is better to devote this time to sleep.

Draw the curtains tightly, turn off the sound on your phone, ask your family not to disturb you so that you can have a complete rest.

Sleep before your shift

Try to get some sleep just before your shift. In the morning, when you return from work, do everything necessary, and in the evening, before going on night duty, try to get some sleep. After all, it is in the evening (at about 21-22 hours) that the level of the hormone melatonin increases in the body, which is responsible for the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness. You can also divide the 8-hour period into 2 stages: sleep 5-6 hours in the morning and 2-3 hours just before your shift.

Don't drink tonic drinks during the second half of your shift.

They simply won't let you sleep at home when you finish work. If you need a pick-me-up, drink coffee or tea during the first half of your shift. And then it is recommended to drink water (clean drinking water), or you can “recharge” yourself with sweet fruits, which will give you the necessary amount of energy.

Eat healthy

Pay attention to what you eat - especially if you take food with you on shift. Proper nutrition also greatly affects sleep. Food should be healthy - lean on protein foods, fresh vegetables and fruits, healthy fats. Avoid an abundance of sweets, carbonated drinks and unhealthy fast food.

Wear sunglasses

This applies to the early morning when you return home after a night shift. Wear dark sunglasses to trick your body into waking up at dawn.

If your job involves night shifts, these fairly simple but very effective tips will help minimize the negative impact of being forced to stay awake at night.

Author - Tatyana Maltseva, website www.sympaty.net - Beautiful and Successful. The article was checked by a practicing family doctor Elizaveta Anatolyevna Krizhanovskaya, work experience - 5 years. More information about the site's authors Copying this article is prohibited!

Disadvantages of night work

Despite some advantages, working at night has a number of negative aspects:

• Human activity is tied to daylight hours , and an intense lifestyle during the dark period of the day will inevitably lead to health problems. The damage to the body is comparable to the harm from drinking alcohol and smoking. To minimize negative consequences, it is recommended to take tonic herbal teas (but not drinks of artificial origin), drink multivitamin complexes, walk in the fresh air, and use all opportunities for relaxation.
• Night work can cause the collapse of family life . If spouses work different shifts, then they have practically no opportunity to spend time together. Gradually, the couple moves away from each other, feelings fade away, and family life ceases. Pregnant women are contraindicated to work at night, as in this case the risk of miscarriages or pathological conditions increases by 50%.
• A constant lack of proper rest will lead to irrational use of daytime and making mistakes at work at night. This is especially true for early risers.
• Constant activity in the dark part of the day disrupts the process of producing the satiety hormone . This awakens an increased appetite at night, which leads to rapid weight gain.
• Impaired insulin production and the occurrence of diabetes mellitus of the first degree are also the result of working at night.
• Ignoring natural biorhythms provokes irritability, nervousness, problems in the cardiovascular system and hypertension.
• Night work increases the risk of cancer (breast, rectal, prostate cancer) by 40%.
• Working in the dark for long periods of time leads to constant distraction. Statistics show that the number of errors at night is many times higher than during the day.
• People who have worked at this pace for many years develop a tendency toward grumbling, quarrelsomeness, and even aggression.

In addition to the obvious disadvantages of working at night, there are contraindications to working in the dark. It is not recommended to work at night:

1. Pregnant women.
2. After a heart attack.
3. For coronary heart disease.
4. For heart failure.
5. For gastrointestinal ulcers.
6. Other diseases, if there is a risk of severe exacerbations.

Only absolutely healthy people can work at night. Night owls find it easier to adapt to a night schedule than early risers.

How to get enough sleep after a night shift at work?

What do doctors, nurses, firefighters, truck drivers and salespeople have in common? Many of them work night shifts. Whether you're a morning person or a night owl, working at night is challenging enough. In the United States, taking into account the demands of the modern world, about 15 million people work night shifts.

Working at night comes with a number of health risks: metabolic problems, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, obesity, cancer, DNA damage, etc. Below are several options for making it easier to fall asleep after working at night without exposing your body to high levels of stress. risk.

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1. Night shifts force you to fight your natural circadian rhythm, trying to stay alert when your body should be sleeping. Just like when you return home from work, you should be resting, while your body is designed to stay awake.

Adults require 7 to 9 hours of sleep to function normally. It is more difficult to get quality sleep during the day due to the fact that there is more light and noise around. Below are a few tricks to get the maximum amount of sleep:

• go to bed as soon as you get home. The longer you delay going to bed, the more difficult it will be to fall asleep and stay asleep;
• you need to eat something shortly before bed so that hunger or thirst does not wake you up;
• Avoid drinking alcohol. It will help you fall asleep faster, but will reduce the quality of your sleep;
• Avoid smoking before bed. Nicotine is a stimulant for the nervous system and may therefore cause difficulty falling asleep;
• Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and at a comfortable temperature. Use earplugs to block out noise and dark, blackout curtains to block out light;
• Notify friends and family not to disturb you.

1. During night shifts, you can try to trick your body and circadian rhythm by limiting your exposure to sunlight.

Research has shown that night shift workers who were exposed to bright light while working and wore sunglasses on the way home fell asleep faster and slept longer than people who were not exposed to bright light.

1. When the body's circadian rhythms are disrupted, metabolism is disrupted. People who work at night have metabolic syndrome 29% more often than people without such disorders. Try to stick to an eating pattern similar to what you would follow during the day. Choose foods that are easy for your body to digest, including bread, rice, pasta, salad, dairy products, fruits and vegetables. Avoid foods that are difficult to digest, such as fried, spicy and processed foods.
2. Mid-day naps have been shown to restore and even improve cognitive performance. Nap durations of 20–45 min have been shown to be beneficial for shift workers to counteract fatigue. If working at night, daytime sleep should not exceed 45 minutes.
3. Most people take a huge dose of coffee before starting their work day. However, research suggests that using a different approach will yield maximum results. People who drink coffee in small portions (a quarter cup of coffee), but often, stay awake longer, improve their cognitive abilities and reduce sleepiness than those who do not drink coffee at all or drink 1 large portion per day.

Caffeine use should be stopped 6 hours before bedtime to prevent it from affecting the ability to fall asleep and the duration and quality of sleep.

Based on materials from www.medicalnewstoday.com

Causes

1. A healthy night's sleep includes periodic changes in phases - fast and slow. They are repeated at least 3 times, which fits into an 8-hour rest period for the brain. During the daytime, these conditions are not met - dozing cannot bring the necessary rest to the brain, and therefore a headache appears.
2. The body may not be in the mood for rest during the day. Even if by external signs it seems that a person is sleeping, he continues to work. And since there is a disruption in the connection between the brain and the environment, an uncomfortable feeling appears in the head.
3. After a day's rest, blood pressure often increases, which occurs when blood vessels are compressed.

To stay alert during the day, you need to sleep properly at night. For this there must be a suitable bed, bedding and all the furnishings in the room. The sleeping room should be dark; it is important that there are no extraneous sounds, music, or televisions on.

It is necessary to go to bed and get up at the same time. Gradually a habit is formed, and the person feels more cheerful. Before this, it is necessary to ventilate the room, and in the warm season it is advisable to sleep with the windows open. If the night's sleep is of high quality, then during the day a person does not want to sleep. He will feel cheerful.

Causes

Why does my head hurt after a nap? It's connected with:

• lack of oxygen;
• incorrect position of the head relative to the body;
• tension in the muscles of the neck and back when the position is uncomfortable;
• extraneous sounds, light;
• short sleep duration.

In this case, there can be one or several factors. These are all the reasons why you get a headache after a nap. All of these factors lead to discomfort. This can occur either constantly or periodically, it all depends on the state of health.

Since the desired effect usually does not appear with daytime sleep, it is preferable to replace it with another type of rest. If you feel tired and want to sleep, you need to change the type of activity. Why does my head hurt and my blood pressure rise after a nap?