Author Archives: betsy1
Serotonin, the Happiness Holy Grail
Shift workers have less serotonin that day-time workers so their sleep, appetite, mood, body temperature are impacted. Continue reading
Weight, Obesity, Fitness and Health
Participation in shift work has been associated with increased body mass index, prevalence of obesity and other health problems. Continue reading
Are We Breaking the Health Care Bank for Shift Workers?- Controlling the Rising Cost of Health Care
According to a report by U.S. PIRG, health care spending rose 56 percent from 2000 to 2006, versus an inflation rate of just 18 percent and wage increases of 20 percent. This forced employers to choose between reducing benefits, limiting pay increases, and hiring fewer employees. Furthermore, shift workers represent 10 percent of the working population but they account for 17 percent of the health care costs. Zeroing in on this group of workers will provide an employer more bang for their health care buck.
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Families and Friends of Shift Workers – How to Help
With over 55 million Americans working nonstandard work schedules, up to 150 million people are directly impacted by shift work schedules, based on US census statistics of household size. But many more people are actually impacted by shift work because, while household size has been shrinking, extended families (e.g. extended relatives, neighbors and friends, co-workers) are becoming more important. Shift work can cause difficulty creating and maintaining relationships, and often it’s hard for others to realize special challenges shift workers face. Continue reading
Preventing Accidents and Injuries at Work
16 workers are killed every day in the US from falls, electrocutions, explosions, trench collapses, getting caught in machinery, violence, and vehicle crashes. Every day 11,000 are injured, one every seven seconds. Continue reading