Working Nights

What’s Green and Beige and Eaten All Over?

Pistachios! 

Researchers report that up to 95% of people do not get enough potassium.  Failing to meet the standard recommended daily intake levels can lead muscular cramps, twitching, and weakness, poor reflexes, fatigue, kidney failure, lung failure, and cardiac arrest. Also, too little potassium can result in insomnia, cognitive processing delays, and depression.  Getting enough potassium is important for shift workers who are already susceptible to sleep disorders, such as insomnia and restless leg syndrome, as well as fatigue.  When working shift work, it’s important to pay attention to eating nutritiously, which isn’t always easy to do.  Planning meals ahead is often the only way to guarantee a balanced diet when working nights, in particular.

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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…..

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WSJ Covers Heart Risk at Work and Seasonal Affective Disorder

There were two articles in the Wall Street Journal today that are significant to shift workers. One story is about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and the other’s about a new study reporting that men who didn’t confront colleagues or bosses who treated them unfairly doubled their risk of heart attack.

Seasonal Affective Disorder – the article states that SAD “affects an estimated 6% of Americans, causing depression, lethargy, irritability and a desire to avoid social situations. It can also create an urge to overeat, particularly carbohydrates. As many as 15% of people in the U.S. may have a milder version that includes only some of these symptoms.” What the article leaves out, that all shift workers know, is that SAD symptoms are routinely felt by workers at jobs outside the normal day-time hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. See more about this in our articles on Vitamin D and Serotonin.

Reducing Heart Risk with Confrontation – the lead researcher from Stockholm University and her research partners asked 2,755 men how they typically responded to unfair treatment at work. Those who said they just let it pass and said/did nothing had significantly more heart attacks during the next ten years. After adjusting for age, socio-economic factors, risk behaviors, job strain, and biological risk factors, the risk of heart and death from a cardiovascular event was 2.3 times greater than it was for those who said they confronted those treating them unfairly. Read more about how shift workers can manage stress on the job and about controlling bullying at work.

To read the two Wall Street Journal articles:

Seasonal Affective Disorder
Reducing Heart Risk with Confrontation

©2009Circadian Age, Inc. ‘Working Nights”

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.
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Another Important Reason to Assess Levels of Vitamin D

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among those with diabetes. And, according to researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, people with diabetes and low Vitamin D have more than double the risk of cardiovascular disease. One possible reason (according to the study’s authors) – diabetics who are deficient in vitamin D don’t process cholesterol normally, so it builds up in their blood vessels and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Why is this important to shift workers? Because some studies have shown that shift workers may have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and shift workers are also are at a greater risk of having a vitamin D deficiency. This study may provide more support for why shift workers have a greater likelihood of suffering from cardiovascular disease. And, it also sheds some light on a possible way to reduce the risk of heart disease – besides exercise, good nutrition, and maintaining proper weight, make sure you get enough vitamin D.
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Shift Workers May Need to Pay Special Attention to Sodium and Potassium Levels

Fast and processed food pumps more sodium into our diet every day than our body was meant to handle. For shift workers that rely on the comfort and reliability fast food offers on the way to or from a shift, sodium sneaks in and can wreak havoc on a body throughout the years. Many people think that if they avoid sprinkling too much salt on their meals, sodium won’t be a problem, but unfortunately this is not the case. Shift workers face additional challenges from the normal fast food-eater, since the high levels of caffeine many shift workers drink reduces hydration, further throwing off the sodium balance, and many effects of too much sodium such as weight gain, low energy, aching muscles, and chronic fatigue are already felt by shift workers for other job-related reasons. Your body relies on potassium to balance out sodium content, a goal that is clearly extremely important for extended hours workers. This article will show you how to tell if you have a problem, and lay out tips for keeping you body balanced and what foods to eat to increase potassium levels. Read this article…

Restless Legs Syndrome and Its Connection to Shift Work

For shift workers slumping into bed after a long night shift or extended hours work day, a pain that feels like a burning iron on your leg is not the feeling you were hoping for. Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), a chronic problem sometimes unnoticed by health care, affects almost 10 percent of the population, yet it is still a misunderstood and often forgotten disorder. A shiftwork lifestyle causes workers to face a much greater risk for Restless Leg Syndrome than the normal population. Restless Leg Syndrome often goes undiagnosed for up to twenty years after it rears its ugly head, causing pain, lack of sleep, and irritation, but people can work their way towards recovery. It is important for shift workers to arm themselves with knowledge of RLS and its symptoms, so that they can avoid unnecessary harm. Read this article…

Here Comes the Sun: Getting Enough Vitamin D When Working Shift Work

The threat of skin cancer looms on the one hand, but the threat of bone fractures, sleep disorders, and depression awaits on the other. What is a shift worker to do? Too much sun causes danger, but many shift workers- shuttling back and forth to work all day, toiling under the gleam of florescent lights, sleeping all afternoon- don’t get enough sunshine in their lives. Vitamin D helps the body use calcium to grow strong bones, as well as preventing rickets and aiding the immune system. While a few foods such as milk and eggs contain Vitamin D, the body mainly produces the vitamin in response to sun exposure, and so the vitamin languishes in dark, night work and shift work environments. It is important for shift workers to understand the workings of Vitamin D and how to get the right amount safely, since these days it’s the rare work schedule that supports a relaxing daily sunbathe. Read this article…

Spring Cleaning: Understanding the Physiological Benefits of Daylight Savings Time

Benjamin Franklin first suggested the idea of Daylight Savings Time in 1784, long before electricity, when keeping the clock’s hours more in line with the sun was the only way to avoid more time working in the dark for farmers in the winter. The idea caught on after World War I, yet many people still wonder about Daylight Savings Time’s meaning and importance. While it’s annoying to lose that one hour of sleep in the spring as you move the clock forward, Daylight Savings Time helps us improve our health and mental state by allowing us more time in the sun, and saves us money on energy bills by making sure more of our active hours are lit by daylight. Read this article…