shift work is injurious to your health

Nearly 2,000 women contract breast cancer every year in the UK because they work shifts, according to an official report.The startling figure has been calculated by the Health and Safety Executive, which also estimates more than 550 deaths from the disease are due to night working.In total more than 8,000 cancer deaths a year were attributed to employment by the research.

Shift work has been associated with increased risk of a number of illnesses, including digestive disorders and heart disease as well as breast cancer.

Researchers say the imposition of antisocial hours and the potential disruption of rotating through different shift patterns may cause stress which in turn leaves people vulnerable to health problems.On cancer specifically, scientists believe spending the night in artificial light suppresses the body’s production of a hormone called melatonin. Low levels of melatonin may stimulate the growth of cancerous cells in the breast, or encourage the production of the female sex hormone oestrogen, which is known to promote breast cancer.

Professor Andrew Watterson, head of occupational environmental health research at Stirling University said “Shift workers should be aware of this issue. There are things which can be done to reduce their risk if they have to work shifts at night. There are ways of reducing the impact and people who have a choice may want to remove themselves from that setting.” Ensuring staff do not work excessive hours, have access to nutritious food and take appropriate breaks are among the steps Prof Watterson said employers could take.

He also stated “What is worrying is the number of night workers is going up,” he said. “Night work for reasons of profit is very different from looking at it in terms of emergency and communication services.”

For Marx, it is a matter of capitalists increasing the amount of surplus value extracted from the workers from increasing productivity of work by lengthening the working day through shift work. The statute books are littered with Health and Safety legislation that goes ignored and unenforced because the political will and resources are not there to counteract the profit needs of the capitalists to encroach on their provisions.

In another report scientists found "unequivocal evidence" of a direct link between sleeping less than six hours a night and dying prematurely.People who regularly had this little sleep were 12% more likely to die over a period of 25 years or less than those who got the recommended six to eight hours.

Professor Francesco Cappucio, head of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick, said "Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work..."