Working Nights

It’s Important to Talk with your Doctor about Working Shift Work

If you’ve read much of the material on this blog, you know that working shift work contributes to many challenging, but manageable, health and lifestyle issues.  One way to make sure you manage your own unique circumstances is by talking with your health practitioner about the fact you work shifts and raising any concerns you have about shift work.  A recent study by the University of Illinois at Chicago and the VA Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care found that physicians tend to follow a fairly standard approach to care for most health conditions.  Physicians do not generally take into account  a particular patient’s situation or life context, so the fact that a patient works shift work is not likely to enter the doctor’s radar screen.  But, it’s critical for shift workers to have doctors who understand the unique challenges of working shift work.

Some of the special issues shift workers can face include:

1.  Sleep disturbances from work schedules distrupting sleep schedules.

2. Lower levels of Vitamin D resulting from lack of exposure to sunlight.

3. Overweight due to lack of nutritional food when working nights.

4. Higher rates of divorce due to lifestyle challenges of working shifts.

5. Increased risk for depression arising from lower levels of seratonin.

Read other posts throughout this blog for more areas of risk when working shifts. 

Next time you go to your health practitioner, bring a list of your concerns and be vocal about them with your provider.  Make sure your doctor or nurse practitioner knows you work shift work.  The University of Illinois at Chicago and the VA Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care study found that doctors were more likely to respond to biomedical facts – e.g. test results - than to contextual red flags - such as I work  shift work and I’m concerned about my increased risk for cardiac problems even though I don’t have any family members with heart health issues.  Both biomedical facts and contextual red flags are equally important to planning appropriate care, according to the study researchers.  By planning care with your provider you can prevent shift work challenges from impacting your health and lifestyle.

©2010 Circadian Age, Inc. ‘Working Nights’

New Study Makes it Clear; We Need More than Six Hours of Sleep

Shift workers are known to get less sleep than people working regular days.  It’s been studied, written, and talked about for years.  Some people brag about how little sleep they can survive on.  Others complain about their lack of sleep and how tired they feel all the time.  A new study is going to make all of us take a much closer look at our sleeping habits.  It will show us why we need to do all we can to get in the recommended 6 – 8 hours per 24 hour period (we actually recommend 7 – 8).

Researcher from the University of Warwick and the Federico II University Medical School in Naples, Italy, have concluded that people who sleep for less than six hours each night were 12% more likely to die prematurely than those who get the recommended 6-8 hours.  This research offers indisputable evidence of the need for adequate sleep. The researchers also found that long sleepers, those who sleep 9 hours or more regularly, are likely to have other underlying health conditions.

The study included more than 1.3 million participants, followed up for up to 25 years, with more than 100,000 deaths recorded.  The study was published in the May 3^rd issue of the journal, Sleep.

For information about working shift work and sleep click on the links below.  Each one will give you or your employees, if you’re a manager, ideas about how to get more sleep while working shift work.

Insomnia and Shift Work

Men and Sleep

Women and Sleep

Restorative Sleep Improves Memory and Creativity

©2010 Circadian Age, Inc. ‘Working Nights’

New Study Supports Claims that Oatmeal is Good for Shift Workers!

Numerous studies have indicated that sleep is essential for normal immune system functioning and to maintain the bodies’ ability to fight off disease and sickness. Most shift workers exist in sleep deprived states as a result of only getting 5-6 hours of sleep per 24-hour period.  So, as a result, it’s likely that shift workers’ immune systems are compromised, contributing to more cases of the common cold and flu, but also to chronic health issues many shift workers face – for example, diabetes and heart disease.

At Working Nights, we’re always looking for new solutions to improve shift worker health and wellbeing.  Here’s a new idea…..

Read this article…

Working Nights President, Betsy Connolly, to Chat with Nurses on NurseTogether.com – Join us Tomorrow at 6 pm est.

Nurses are used to working shifts - nursing was one of the first professions to require that work schedules be matched to the needs of patients.  Medical complexities, expanded services, and consumer demand for all types of health care around the clock has meant that more nurses are working shift work now than ever.

Betsy Connolly, President of Working Nights is going to be chatting on-line with nurse members of NurseTogether.com.  Topics will include a review of circadian rhythms as well as practical tips for managing work/life balance when working shifts, particularly roating ones. 

When:  Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 6 pm est.

Where:  NurseTogether.com – click here for the link and to become a member.

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…

The Connection Between Safety and Teamwork – It’s all about Communication and Taking Workers’ Individual Differences into Account!

Starting as young children, we’re taught about the importance of teamwork.  For example, we might have learned to work together to bring the groceries in from the car – maybe one person brought the bags into the house, another took them into the kitchen, another unpacked them, and someone else put the food away in the cabinets and fridge.  It felt fun working together at something; the experience was certainly more enjoyable than anyone doing the whole job on their own.  And, we could see that this four person exercise accomplished the task in a quarter of the time it would take one person to do the whole thing (if you were lucky enough to have four people to pitch in and help!).

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.”  

As adults we’re told that teamwork is critical to achieving success in our jobs too.  But, is this really the case?

Read this article…

Working Night’s President Featured on WBZ 1030 Call-in Program – Friday, October 23, 2009 at Midnight

Working Night’s President, Betsy Connolly, discussed the positives and challenges of working shift work  on The Jordan Rich Show starting at midnight. Callers commented on their strategies of managing shift work lifestyles and asked questions.  Ms. Connolly also spoke about how shift workers and their families have used the Working Nights calendars to better manage work/life balance when working shifts for 25 years.

Listen to the tape of the program by clicking here.  You’ll be brought to our press release and news section.  Search for the blue and red WBZ logo shown above for the posting.

Working Nights is on the Radio and the Internet!

We are now on WBZ Radio 1030!

Working Nights on Drowsy Driving

Here’s one of our new Working Nights internet cartoons!

Be Careful When and What You Eat, When Working Shift Work – No Greasy Fries and Burgers Anymore! Sorry!

Our bodies circadian rhythms regulate when we should eat, sleep, and be active. However, when we work shift work we don’t allow our bodies to adhere to these regulations, especially when we are working nights. We run around working, when we should be sleeping and inactive, and we eat at night when our bodies are normally shut down and not focused on digestion. We all know it doesn’t help us to maintain our weight when we eat junk food at night while sitting in front of the television. But what causes the problem? Is it the calories in the junk food? Would it make a difference if we chose to nibble on carrots and celery instead? Or is it because we’re eating late at night? A recent study in the journal Obesity, has found that when we eat may be more of a driver of weight gain than what we eat. This obviously has significant impact for shift workers.
Read this article…

Americans Spend Huge Amounts on Alternative Health Care

Americans spent $33.9 billion out of their own pockets on complementary and alternative health care products and services (complementary alternative medicine – CAM) during a 12 month period leading up to 2007, according to a government survey. CAM includes products and services like herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic, and acupuncture. The majority of the spending went to the purchase of non-vitamin, non-mineral, natural products ($14.8 billion) such as fish oil, glucosamine and Echinacea. The US National Institutes of Health lists three conditions for which fish oil and other omega-3 sources are the most highly recommended: hypertriglyceridemia, secondary cardiovascular disease prevention (associated with sleep disordered breathing – something shift workers may be more susceptible to) and high blood pressure (people working shift work and rotating shifts need to pay attention to heart health to avoid cardiovascular disease). NIH also lists 27 other conditions for which there is less evidence that fish oil can help, but some evidence nevertheless. It also lists possible safety issues resulting from overdose.

U.S. adults also spent approximately $11.9 billion on an estimated 354.2 million visits to CAM practitioners such as acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, etc. Shift workers are at increased risk for musculoskeletal disorders which are often treated by CAM practitioners.

To look at the relevancy of these statistics, the $14.8 billion spent on nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products is equivalent to approximately one-third of total out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs, and the $11.9 billion spent on CAM practitioner visits is equivalent to approximately one-quarter of total out-of-pocket spending on physician visits.

Clearly these cost are above and beyond health care spending reported by insurance companies and businesses. Everywhere you look, the costs are adding up…..and at an economic time that we can’t afford them. Prevention is critical and individuals, businesses, insurance companies, medical providers and state and federal government agencies need work together on this. Easier said than done, obviously. But, if collectively we can succeed, we’ll all be better off.

Serotonin, the Happiness Holy Grail

Happiness has been an elusive goal ever since the beginning of humanity, but the idea that we can find happiness inside ourselves may be based on scientific fact. Serotonin is a chemical in our brains that strongly affects our mood, appetite, sleep, and sexual desire. Low levels of serotonin have been linked to depression, schizophrenia, and certain mental disorders, while normal and higher levels improve your mood and make you more relaxed. Many easy daily habits can increase your serotonin levels- take happiness into your own hands! Read this article…