Shift work harms Employee’s Health: Study

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison has found that workers who work outside of a 9-to-5 schedule could be at risk of being overweight. According to the study, such workers usually experience sleep problems and could develop metabolic disorders. Such people were not noticed in employees who work conventional schedules, the study found.

Results of the study revealed that shift workers were more than 10% more likely to be overweight. In addition, they were about 7% more likely to experience sleep disorder and about 10% more likely to have get insufficient sleep. According to the study, the shift employees were also more likely to experience excessive wake-time sleepiness than the workers who are used to conventional schedules.

According to the researchers, they discovered that sleep problems experienced by the shift workers was linked with metabolic disorders like being obese or overweight. Marjory Givens, an associate scientist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said that the study has found that shift work workers could be at higher risk to develop sleep problems than conventional schedules workers because their work require them to work at night.

Givens said, “This study adds to a growing body of literature calling attention to the metabolic health burden commonly experienced by shift workers and suggests that obtaining sufficient sleep could lessen this burden”.

As per the researchers, shift work has been found an occupational health risk of growing significance as it is becoming more common. The results of the study have been published on May 18 in Sleep Health, the journal of the National Sleep Foundation.

The researchers said that the study has found a link between shift work and health issues, but according to them, the study was not designed to show that working rotating shifts could cause such problems.