Sunday, April 15, 2012

working shifts is hazardous to your health

Shift work has been implicated in a number of studies as being unhealthy and those have often been posted here or on our companion blog Socialist Courier.

One in seven of the working population operate regularly outside of traditional nine-to-five working hours. The total value of Britain's night economy is estimated to be worth some £244bn, a rise of 30 per cent over the past decade. This trend is expected to accelerate as the demand for 24-hour services and round-the-clock shopping continues to rise.

A study published last week revealed that night-shift workers are disproportionately susceptible to diabetes and obesity. American research shows that night-shift workers, and their number is growing by about 3% per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , are known to be at higher risk for accidents, sleep disorders and psychological stress due to daytime demands, such as family and other obligations, that interfere with sleeping. Now scientific evidence suggests their disrupted circadian rhythms may also cause a kind of biological revolt, raising their likelihood of obesity, cancer, reproductive health problems, mental illness and gastrointestinal disorders. The evidence for an increased cancer risk is so compelling that, in December, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a unit of the World Health Organization, declared that shift work is "probably carcinogenic to humans."

"The contradiction here is that the Government rhetorically promotes family life, yet in practice, the policies erode the very barriers that protect families. Night working might fit certain lifestyles, but for the majority there's a cost that's not borne by the employer."

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