Rotating Night Shift Work May be Dangerous to Your Health

While night shift work has been consistently associated with higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer, it's only now that it's getting a bit more notice. A new study reveals that women working rotating night shifts for five or more years have a modest increase in all-cause and CVD mortality, and those working 15 or more years have a modest increase in lung cancer mortality.

Both sleep and the circadian system play a huge role in cardiovascular health and antitumor activity. In fact, there's substantial biological evidence that night shift work enhances the development of cancer and CVD, and contributes to higher mortality.

In order to better understand the impacts of night shift work, the researchers examined data from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS). In all, the scientists analyzed 22 years of follow-up and found that working rotating night shifts increased mortality. In fact, mortality from all causes was 11 percent higher for women with 6-14 or more than 15 years of rotating night shift work. In addition CVD mortality was about 19 to 23 percent higher for these groups, respectively.

"These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental relation of rotating night shift work and health and longevity," said Eva Schernhammer, one of the researches, in a news release. "To derive practical implications for shift workers and their health, the role of duration and intensity of rotating night shift work and the interplay of shift schedules with individual traits (e.g., chronotype) warrant further exploration."

The findings reveal the importance of further study when it comes to shift schedules. Because these schedules can affect a person's longevity, it's crucial to learn how to mitigate these health impacts.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.

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