Working Nights

How Do You React to Stress?

Work can be hugely stressful. In fact, twenty-five percent of Americans say that their job is their greatest contributor to the angst in their lives.  And, clearly there are other stresses too.  Pressure, anxiety, and tension can result in headaches, sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, short tempers, upset stomachs, low morale, and general life dissatisfaction.  Shift workers can experience extra stress as a result of working variable hours, getting less sleep, having little access to family members and friends, leading to increased isolation and lack of support.

Stress can be reduced though, and here are some ideas to help. Read this article…

Insomniacs with Nighttime Awakenings Have a Huge Impact on Health Care Costs and Workforce Management

Did you know that 30-40% of adults report some symptoms of insomnia within any given year?  But that’s nothing…..according to the National Sleep Foundation, over 60% of people who work shifts report that they suffer from insomnia.  And, 30% of shift workers claim that they’re excessively tired all the time.  People who work shifts are twice as likely to fall asleep at the wheel as those working during the day-time.  Read this article…

Feeling Grouchy and Touchy? Read This!

We learn from a very young age that when we don’t get enough sleep, we get cranky.  Since shift workers only get 5-6 hours of sleep on average, many feel grouchy, irritable, and touchy a lot of the time.  Bad-tempers can be difficult to hold inside, and when fury is released onto spouses, partners, kids, work associates, and managers, it can become toxic.  What’s the result?  Blowing your top can cause you to be fired and it can result in divorce.  Being argumentative and disagreeable doesn’t usually get a positive response.  Lack of sleep starts a progression down a slippery slope often ending with frustration and rage.  Remember those terrible-two’s temper tantrums?  Now we’re talking adult sized anger! 

Melinda Beck, Editor of the Wall Street Journal Health Journal interviewed psychologist Pauline Wallin, author of “Taming Your Inner Brat.”  In the interview, Dr. Wallin provides a few concrete ideas about how to manage anger.  She suggests that when you feel angry, you should slow down and talk sense to yourself.  Don’t react quickly to what’s going on around you, take time and think about it.  One good suggestion by Dr. Wallin is to imagine that you wake up in the morning with $1 worth of energy for the day.  Then, as the day progresses and issues come up, if you feel yourself getting frustrated and angry, think about whether you want to give 80 cents of your energy to that situation or just 5 cents.  Most likely you’ll decide not to waste your energy on negative, small issues.

To listen to the interview, Demand for Anger -Management Grows. But Does It Work – WSJ.com.

This Emotional Life – Following up on “Stumbling on Happiness”

Daniel Gilbert, professor at Harvard and best selling author of “Stumbling on Happiness,” hosts this PBS show, This Emotional Life, starting Monday, January 4th.  The show will explore ways to improve social relationships, cope with emotional issues, and become more positive and resilient as individuals. 

Many people from all walks of life are profiled, including every day moms, dads, and workers, and famous people like Katie Couric and Richard Gere.  If you have to work when the show is aired, you can  either tape it at home, or purchase the series at http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=3914596. 

In Stumbling on Happiness, Gilbert shares with us facts about the way our mind works.  Gilbert, a Harvard University Psychology professor, is particularily interested in the shortcomings of our imaginations.  He says we’re much too accepting of the conclusions of our imaginations.   He notes that our imaginations are really bad at telling us how we will think when the future finally comes. And our personal experiences aren’t nearly as good at correcting these errors as we thing they are.

Watch the TV preview right here!

Dan Shapiro PBS Trailer

A Great Book to Read over the Holidays – “My Stroke of Insight,” by Jill Bolte Taylor

Book Review – My Stroke of Insight – a Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.,

Taylor’s book provides a unique education about our brains, in particular, about how the two different hemispheres of our brains work – together and independently.  Taylor provides insight into the impact of impaired brain functioning, something that is critical to the health and safety of shift workers and to the success of shift work operations.  Shift workers are known to exist on less than the optimal amount of sleep ~ typically 5 hours versus 7-8 hours; while obviously not as severe as a stroke, sleep deprivation has been shown to have a significant negative impact on the brain’s ability to perform.

There have been many studies on the impact of sleep deprivation on the brain.  In one study (Dai-Jin Kim et al, International Journal of Neuroscience, 2001), sleep deprived subjects showed no differences in distractibility, physical and visual functioning, reading, writing, arithmetic, and intellectual processes when compared to study participants who were allowed to sleep.  However, cognitive functions such as motor skills, rhythm, receptive and expressive speech, memory and complex verbal and arithmetic functions were decreased after sleep deprivation.  In another study (Drummond et al, Nature, 2000), researchers found “dynamic, compensatory changes in cerebral activation during verbal learning after sleep deprivation.” The researchers found that the prefrontal cortex (controls decision making and following through with thoughts and actions) and the parietal lobes (sensory integration) were key factors in allowing the subjects to function after sleep deprivation.  In other words, our brains work hard to compensate when we are sleep deprived and this may explain why some people claim they can exist on very little sleep – something we don’t recommend.

Read this article…

Try and Take Full Advantage of Recovery Days – Especially over the Holidays

There have been a number of studies done on the importance of recovery days after working shifts. It’s logical….our bodies (and minds) can’t work at odd hours, long days, or rapidly rotating schedules, without being seriously impacted. Now, a few days before Christmas and a week before New Year’s, almost everyone is suffering from depleted energy. But as we continue to push ourselves to persevere, saying, “Just hold on and get through the holidays; it’ll be over soon,” we seek our ways to cope. Often we do this in a robotic-like fashion, not even consciously. We might drink a little too much hoping to calm ourselves down for sleep, pop pain-killers to reduce our aches and pains from all the running around, or skip dinner in favor of Doritos because we’re too tired to cook.

Sound familiar? These are the feelings, vegetative state, and survival tactics most shift workers face on a regular basis, not just around the holidays. If you work shifts, you know.

Back to recovery days……
Read this article…

Can Music Calm a Shift Worker’s Soul – and Improve Sleep as Well?

Where can you find Coldplay, Betty Buckley, The Beastie Boys, Bruce Hornsby, and Vanessa Carleton all working together? Seems like an unlikely group, doesn’t it?

These musicians and many other creative types are big supporters of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF). Created in 1995, IMNF was founded “to restore, maintain and improve people’s physical, emotional and neurologic functioning through the systematic use of music.” IMNF collaborates with researchers and practitioners around the world to advance the understanding and application of the power of music to promote healing and wellness. Some of IMNF’s most significant research and startling findings are in the areas of music and its impact on language, memory, and recovery from nerve injury.

How does music affect shift workers? Should it be listened to at work? Does it help you fall asleep? Can it lower stress when coping with variable schedules?
Read this article…

New Research Proves – You are what you eat – More than Ever!

Australian researchers overseeing a study published last month in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that eating more carbohydrates than fat and protein increases serotonin production in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical that has been linked with improved mood and mental health. Shift workers have been found to have lower levels of serotonin than daytime employees. Does this mean that people working the night shift should run out and stock up on potatoes, beans, rice, pasta, and bread? YES

In the study, half of the participants spent a year following a diet low in fat and high in carbohydrates. The other half went on a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. The participants in both groups lost 30 pounds on average and generally said they felt happier after two months on the diet. But after continuing to diet for a year, the people who ate less fat (butter, steak, pork, veal) and more carbs (pasta and potatoes) reported feeling happier and less depressed and anxious than they had before. The other group, who ate more fat and fewer carbohydrates, felt that their moods were worse than they’d been before.

The book, “The Serotonin Power Diet,’’ by Judith J. Wurtman, PhD and Nina T. Fruszajer, MD, published in December of 2006 beat the Australians to the punch line. The book’s authors state on the home page of their website, “Our brains makes serotonin when you eat foods such as pretzels, pasta, rice, and potatoes – in the right amounts, at the right times of the day, and without protein.” And they also say that serotonin curbs your appetite, restores mental energy, and soothes emotional stress. The authors recommend that “30-60 minutes before your next meal, munch on a serotonin soothing snack: pretzels, cheerios, popcorn, or cherry licorice bites. Notice how it takes the edge off your appetite and energizes you.”

Buy the Serotonin Power Diet on Amazon.com. To read more about serotonin and shift work read our previous blog posting.

Shift Work and Divorce – Does the Work Schedule Really Make a Difference?

Divorce.  It’s not a fun topic for anyone. 

By now most of us have read that we’re better off if we’re married.  According to the Center for Disease Control, married people tend to have lower mortality rates, exhibit less risky behavior, are more likely to monitor their health, comply with necessary medical routines, have sex more often and experience more satisfaction with their sexual lives, save more and earn more.  On a national level, the Census Bureau reports that a shrinking share of Americans are married – only 52% of males and 48% of females were married in 2008. The proportion of Americans who are currently married has been decreasing for decades and is lower than it has been in at least half a century.  The median duration of a marriage in 2008 was 18 years. In 2008, 9% of men were divorced and 12% of women were. 

So why don’t we stick with our marriages?  And, is it true that maintaining a marriage is more difficult for shift workers?

Read this article…

Knowledge of Brain Research will Separate Successful Operations from Others

Research about the brain is leading to amazing results. New discoveries can help us understand ways that the brain may restrict shift workers from maximizing their potential – and – give us more ideas about what can be done about it. Topics ranging from how training provides our brains with greater processing speed and an enhanced ability to multi-task to how our brains control our reaction to invasion of our personal space are covered in this post. Whether its figuring out how people from different cultures can get along better to why getting more stage four sleep is important to learning from training, each of these new brain related studies are important for human resources, safety, and health professionals in any shift work environment to be aware of. And, they are critical for shift workers themselves to understand, as well.
Read this article…

Working Nights Featured in Corporate Wellness Magazine’s September Issue

Health care reform is on everyone’s mind. Corporate Wellness Magazine, written for employers, unions, government agencies, consultants and insurance companies, has two health related articles by Working Nights featured in this months magazine. They include:

The Cost of Pharmaceutical Products used by Shift Workers
In 2007 the total U.S. health care bill came to $2.3 trillion—more than we spent that year on food. The United States spent approximately 16 percent of its 2006 gross domestic product on healthcare, up from eight percent in 1975. This article looks at pharmaceutical products and how much we spend on ailments affecting shift workers.

Lowering Stress and Anxiety for Shift Workers
When faced with the anxiety that sometimes accompanies working shift work, many people turn to tobacco, drugs (both pharmaceutical and illegal ones) and alcohol as coping mechanisms. While these substances may bring some calm in the short term, they tend to heighten stress and anxiety over the long term. This article includes valuable tips to help shift workers better manage work/life balance.

Hope you enjoy these featured articles!

©2009 Circadian Age, Inc. – ‘Working Nights”

Workplace Bullying Increases Sleep Disorder Risk – Already a Problem for Shift Workers

Bullying in the workplace can range from one extreme – physical violence and homicide, to verbal insults, threats, teasing, ridiculing, and making false accusations – at the other end. Sometimes bullies use name-calling, talking about a person behind their back, ignoring a person, and making false accusations to set a co-worker up for failure. The targeted person may be a boss, insubordinate, or peer. No matter who’s being targeted, bullying in the workplace has been proven to decrease morale amongst all workers, and if allowed to continue, bullying will detrimentally impact business results, possibly in a material way. A new study has found that current or past bullying is associated with increased sleep disturbances. Makes sense, right? A person who is being bullied is probably a nervous wreck, so having trouble sleeping seems logical. But, it turns out that bullying has detrimental effects on sleep even when it’s being experienced indirectly – by observing it as a co-worker.
Read this article…

Lowering Stress and Anxiety for Shift Workers (and for others too!)

Stress and anxiety are normal parts of life. Sometimes we all need a little angst to keep us going: to make the best presentation, ace the test, or get the job offer. But over time, the effects of too much tension can be mentally and physically taxing.

Extended periods of stress can cause destructive changes in the body, such as depression or a suppressed immune system, potentially leading to heart disease, stroke, or cancer. Stress and anxiety can be felt physically, appearing as an increased heart rate and high blood pressure, sweating, dry mouth, tight muscles, twitching, abdominal pain, and headaches. Emotional responses to stress may include feeling restless, being unable to concentrate, and talking negatively to yourself.

Shift workers experience unique challenges in their life and jobs that can lead to increased tension. Without proper planning, work/life/family balance can get completely out of synch as a result of working rotating shifts or long hours. As a result of the struggle to adapt to ever changing work schedules, shift workers often don’t get enough sleep.

While most sleep experts suggest seven to eight hours of sleep is needed to feel well-rested, most people don’t get this much, and shift workers get even less than the day time population. The National Institute of Health has reported that people who work at night or have frequent major shifts in their work hours, or who have inactive lifestyles, are at a greater risk of developing insomnia. Many shift workers also report that they don’t exercise frequently, so the problem only gets worse. Read this article…

Mental Health Conditions are on the Increase…and Shift Working Companies Should Take Notice

According to a report in the August 2009 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, treatment for mental health conditions is becoming more common in the US. The article has several explanations for why this may be, including patient and medical providers having a broader understanding of the need for mental health treatment, recent significant outreach by nonprofit groups promoting mental health care, and the growing public acceptance of mental health treatments. A related outcome – antidepressants are now the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the US. Read this article…