According to a BBC report, scientists say poor sleep patterns could be associated with breast cancer. A study showing this has been conducted by a team of researchers from the Netherlands. Researchers conducted the study on genetically engineered mice and changed their body clock. By doing so, they delayed sleep for 12 hours weekly.

In the study, one group underwent cycle inversions, whereas another group stayed in a "stable light/dark environment".

When it comes to a cancer experiment, the mice subjects would have got cancer tumors at 50 weeks. However, the researchers found that change in their sleeping patterns led to development of cancer cells eight weeks in advance. As per the study, at least 80% of the test subjects got the disease.

According to the researchers, weight of the mice that had poor sleeping patterns increased by 20%.

According to BBC, Gijsbetus van der Horst, the researcher from the Erasmus University Medical Centre, said that in case of a condition, when a family is at risk for the disease, those people should not work as a flight attendant or do shift-work.

According to him, “The general public health message coming out of my area of work is shift work, particularly rotational shift work is a stress and therefore it has consequences. There are things people should be looking out for”. He said that women should be careful regarding their body weight and analyze breasts on a regular basis. In addition to that more in-work health checks should be there.