Working Nights

New Information about Sleep and Shift Work

We’ve written extensively about the challenges many shift workers face as a result of not getting enough sleep. A few new studies provide more insight for those with sleep challenges. Read this article…

Have Heartburn during the Nightshift?

A team of researchers recruited 350 people to look at whether their nighttime eating habits predicted their risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Stomach contents (food or liquid) of people suffering from GERD leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach). This can irritate the esophagus, causing heartburn and other symptoms. Obesity, cigarettes, and possibly alcohol also increase the chance of GERD.

After controlling for smoking, body mass index and other things that influence heartburn, the researchers found that eating dinner within three hours of going to bed was associated with a sevenfold increase in the risk of reflux symptoms. As for why three to four hours is the threshold, researchers say that is roughly the amount of time it takes for food to clear the stomach.

Researchers from Mid Sweden University performed a systematic review of the medical literature noting studies that have reported gastrointestinal symptoms and diseases among shift workers by researchers from Mid Sweden University. Studies have indicated that shift workers appear to have increased risk of gastrointestinal symptoms and peptic ulcer disease. Workplace noise, increased work schedule variability, and working the evening shift may have the most adverse affect on gastrointestinal functioning.

Here are some suggestions of ways to minimize gastrointestinal discomfort by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine:
• Avoid bending over or exercising just after eating.
• Avoid garments or belts that fit tightly around your waist.
• Do not lie down with a full stomach. For example, avoid eating within 2 – 3 hours of bedtime.
• Do not smoke.
• Eat smaller meals.
• Lose weight, if you are overweight.
• Reduce stress.
• Sleep with your head raised about 6 inches. Do this by tilting your entire bed, or by using a wedge under your body, not just with normal pillows.
© 2011 Circadian Age, Inc. ‘Working Nights’

Beware of the Brownies!

Baked World, a company based in Memphis, TN markets a brownie called Lazy Larry, but BEWARE-these are not your mother’s brownies! They are filled with melatonin, a naturally occurring compound often used to treat sleep disorders. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration has sent Baked World a warning letter ordering them to stop marketing Laxy Larry as simply a “brownie”. Dr. Lloyd Sederer reports in the Huffington Post that the misuse of melatonin can result in numerous side effects and serious consequences. To learn more about these brownies, click here.

IS SNORING…….

………. keeping you or your partner awake night after night? We often joke and laugh about snoring but it can be a serious matter, especially for shift workers as they already get less sleep than daytime workers. Almost one half of the adult population snores at least occasionally, resulting in many sleepless nights for many people.

Snoring occurs when air flows over relaxed tissues in your throat causing the tissues to vibrate as you breathe; this creates those annoying sounds. The tissues may obstruct your airway making it narrower, so the airflow becomes more forceful and the snoring becomes louder. While snoring itself is not a health problem, it may indicate a more serious health condition, such as sleep apnea where your airways are so obstructed that you stop or nearly stop breathing as you sleep.

There are risk factors that may contribute to snoring. Some of them are:

• Being a man
• Being overweight
• Alcohol consumption close to bedtime
• Nasal problems
• Having a narrow airway

If you do suffer from plain old snoring, most doctors recommend making some lifestyle changes such as losing weight, reducing your consumption of alcohol near bedtime and sleeping on your side. These are all low cost or free. There are plenty of products (throat exercises, special pillows, mouth and nose devices) out there that do promise to eliminate snoring but their results have not yet been proven. If lifestyle changes do not help, doctors often recommend the mask or CPAP, oral appliances or surgery. Most insurance plans will not cover treatments for regular snoring, but will cover them if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea.

Do see a doctor if your snoring is disrupting your or anyone’s sleep or if you wake up gasping for air. A good night’s or day’s rest is essential to a happy and healthy you!

Sleep Critical to Memory Retention

We’ve reported on this in the past……however more information is available. According to a new study in the Feb. 2 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, during sleep the brain preferentially retains the memories that are most relevant. Researchers set up two experiments to test memory retrieval. In the first experiment, people were asked to learn 40 pairs of words and in the second, participants played a card game where they matched pictures of animals and objects. In both groups, half the volunteers were told that they would be tested in 10 hours. However, all participants were tested later on how well they recalled their tasks.

It turned out that the people who slept and knew a test was coming had substantially improved memory recall. Sleep was critical to memory enhancement. There was an increase in brain activity during deep or “slow wave” sleep in those volunteers knew they would be tested for memory recall.

This should interest managers caring that employees retain on the job and other training. Safety, human resource, and facility managers might consider fatigue management training to ensure employees are fully aware of the benefits of sleep for themselves and the workplace.

The researchers think that the brain’s prefrontal cortex focuses on memories viewed as relevant while awake and the hippocampus consolidates these memories during sleep.

This is another study that points to the importance sleep to memory retention – something shift workers and their managers should really care about.

It’s Time to Think about Seasonal Affective Disorder Again

Now that it’s December 1st, and we’ve adjusted our clocks, some of us will find their circadian clock more out of order than others. Seasonal affective disorder strikes this time of year. We’ve written on this in the past. See our earlier post which highlights a Wall Street Journal article written by health editor, Melinda Beck.

For a newer article, read Seasonal Affective Disorder: How to Beat ‘Winter’ Depression.

Imagine a Hamster with Jet Lag?

Researchers come up with all kinds of crazy studies….all in the spirit of solving complex medical and scientific challenges that expand our knowledge and can potentially lead to curing disease. Sometimes however, all the research in the world seems to only take us back to what we already know. A recent study by psychologists at University of California – Berkley found that performance on learning and memory tasks are compromised by jet lag. The impact of jet lag has been closely correlated with the consequences of working shifts in research on the body’s circadian rhythms. But, learning and and memory problems can be avoided…..

Read this article…

Extra Sleep Improves Performance, Alertness and Mood

According to a new study being presented tomorrow at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, getting extra sleep over an extended period of time improves athletic performance, alertness and mood.  In this small study, football player participants extended their sleep for seven to eight weeks during the season, obtaining as much sleep as possible and aiming for a minimum of ten hours of sleep each night.  By substantially increasing their length of sleep, the players decreased daytime sleepiness and fatigue and felt increased vigor towards the end of their season.  For more details click here.  This study supports other research indicating that sleep improves the performance, alertness and mood of shift workers.

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’

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…

Restorative Sleep Improves Memory and Creativity

Johah Lehrer has written  a terrific summary pointing to what we gain and what we lose when we don’t get enough sleep.  Watching his wife sleep comfortably and soundly, while he lies awake with insomnia, Lehrer reviews the literature, touching on how the brain replays our own experiences over and over again, sketching them deeply into the neural networks of our brains.  This cements our long term memories.  Lehrer also points out that REM sleep helps make us more creative and lets us integrate new information into our problem solving. 

To read the entire article, click here.  

Jonah Lehrer is a contributing editor at Wired Magazine. He’s the author of “How We Decide” and “Proust Was A Neuroscientist” and blogs at The Frontal Cortex.

2010 Sleep in America Poll Released!

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) has just released the 1st poll to examine sleep among four ethnic groups in the United States: Asians, Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics and Whites-the 2010 Sleep in America Poll. Although significant differences in the sleep habits and attitudes of each group are revealed, there are also a number of interesting similarities. The poll found that more than three fourths of respondents from each ethnic group agree that poor sleep is associated with health problems. It also showed that each group reports similar experiences missing work or family functions because of fatigue. This is of extreme significance to shift workers who routinely average less sleep than day workers.

The NSF is committed to understanding people’s sleep needs and giving them the tools necessary to get the optimum amount of rest. Read more about the poll and its findings at the NSF’s website…

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…

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!

Is Moonlighting Poised to Return, and if so, What Should Employers and Employees Do About it?

As the economy turns, it’s likely that more people will start taking second jobs. Added employment security and the need to double up on paychecks to make up for losses during the recession will drive people in this direction. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7.6 million Americans held multiple jobs during the first five months of this year, or 5% of all employees, about the same as last year. During earlier economic boom periods, moonlighting has increased. For example, at the end of 1989 over 7.2 million Americans worked more than one job, an increase of 25% since 1985. And, by 1997, 8.5% worked more than one job, almost another 20% increase. Now, during more difficult financial times, perhaps it’s not surprising that the numbers are down a bit.

But, the downward trend seems poised for a quick uptick as the economy improves and employers supplement their workforce with part timers rather than bulk up on full-time employees.
Read this article…