Considering the impact of shift working on health.
Br J Nurs
; 33(3): 120-124, 2024 Feb 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38335102
ABSTRACT
Shift work is necessary for the provision of health services, especially in hospitals as it is the only way to provide continuous care to patients. Working at night is inconsistent with the body's biological clock and night shift working hugely disrupts the circadian and sleep wake cycles. In 2020, the World Health Organization classified night shift working as being a 'probable' class 2A carcinogen and a number of independent cohort studies of both night workers and shift workers have observed increased incidence of certain cancers. Altered sleep timing, food timing and light exposure typical for shift workers leads to an acute circadian disruption and misalignment of regulatory hormones. This straying from synchronisation has been shown to result in individuals being more vulnerable to a number of chronic health conditions. Night shift work disrupts the normal sleep-wake cycle, often leading to shortened sleep duration and excessive fatigue and the results of this are far reaching. This article will explore the full impact of shift working, questioning if current practices employed within the NHS should continue.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Circadian Rhythm
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Br J Nurs
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
United kingdom