Long term health impact with shift work?

WinOrLearn BusFighter

I'm in a factory at the moment and I'm stuck on the morning shift which is 6 am - 2 pm. I prefer the evening shift is 2 pm - 10 pm. With the evening shift because I'm guaranteed to be rested when I start and I get to have my dinner before hand which fuels me for the day.

With the morning shift it's always a struggle to get to bed by 9 pm the night before. I often have problems with the alarm or end up falling back to
sleep. And there's something wrong with not catching a glimpse of daylight before entering the factory which itself has no windows. Because it's physical work it's hard to do an 8 hour shift without having had dinner beforehand. We only get a short break so I try to shove a sh1t load of food into myself before work with the morning shift.

The break in 30 minutes but it's really 25 minutes because we've to dress/undress and wash our hands in our own time. During this I also try to shove a sh1tload of food into myself. Often I'm tired and hungry after the morning shift when I get home. So I'm faced with the dilemma of taking a nap on an empty stomach, or making dinner from scratch. Dinner takes me a while to make because I insist on eating healthy. So what often happens is that I end up having dinner later in the day than what I should which isn't good either.

Unusually, most people seem to prefer the morning shift!

Alf Veedersane

WinOrLearn BusFighter wrote: »

Dinner takes me a while to make because I insist on eating healthy. So what often happens is that I end up having dinner later in the day than what I should which isn't good either.

1) Batch cook. Then you don't need to start cooking a dinner from scratch every day and cam still eat healthily.

2) Having dinner later in the day isnt necessarily bad in and of itself.

You're more likely to do more damage stressing about it.

brick tamland

Calories are calories no matter when you eat them. This not eating late means nothing. But working hours that you find unusual may play havoc with your body clock alright but if you learn to control then and eat well, you'll be fine.

YFlyer

Learn and practice a meditation technique.

Brregzit

brick tamland wrote: »

Calories are calories no matter when you eat them. This not eating late means nothing. But working hours that you find unusual may play havoc with your body clock alright but if you learn to control then and eat well, you'll be fine.

I thought that your metabolism slows before you go to sleep so you don't burn the calories. That's what I always hear. I heard Dr Mark Hyman say it first.

Alf Veedersane

Brregzit wrote: »

I thought that your metabolism slows before you go to sleep so you don't burn the calories. That's what I always hear. I heard Dr Mark Hyman say it first.

Metabolism slows. It doesn't stop. So it's still metabolising while you sleep

saccades

I did two 12 hour days followed by two 12 nights for 4 years, 7 til 7.

Tough.

Oats are great as a good, quick food with loads of complex carbs to fuel you through to your break.

Pre make meals ready - easy and cheap to do.

I used fitness classes to get me tired so I slept, also remember no coffee/tea at least 4 hours before bed. Hard to do in the small hours on a night shift. Don't ever over sleep either, as that will mess with the sleep pattern you need for your job.

I know it's hard, but you have to go to bed to get 7 hours sleep, or at least good rest. That's the trade off for the extra pay for unsocial hours.

dastardly00

My major concern for you would be regarding sleep. You need at the very least 7 hours sleep. Extra pay etc. is not worth it as sleep deprivation will have a very negative affect on your health.

Wanderer78

dastardly00 wrote:

My major concern for you would be regarding sleep. You need at the very least 7 hours sleep. Extra pay etc. is not worth it as sleep deprivation will have a very negative affect on your health.

Unfortunately it looks like the op has been banned, so probably not point in responding, but I had to walk away from shifts, sleep deprivation was triggering depression and anxiety, look after yourself folks

Brregzit

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Metabolism slows. It doesn't stop. So it's still metabolising while you sleep

Whatever, the point being that you burn more if you eat earlier.

dastardly00

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Unfortunately it looks like the op has been banned, so probably not point in responding, but I had to walk away from shifts, sleep deprivation was triggering depression and anxiety, look after yourself folks

You definitely made the correct decision walking away from shift work, well done! I hope things are better for you now

Wanderer78

dastardly00 wrote:

You definitely made the correct decision walking away from shift work, well done! I hope things are better for you now

All handy dandy, thank God. I do feel for people that have very few choices regarding shift work though, I worked with lads that had little or no choice, but the shifts were making them very ill, amongst other things of course.

IK09

I know he's banned but he can probably still read responses.

This type of life regime sounds like torture to me. Long working hours. No direct sunlight at times. I can literally visualise the OP walking the door with his head hanging. I hope the work keeps your mind occupied man.

For the last number of years I've personally found that in the darker months I don't tend to be as mentally strong as when the sun shines. I've been taking a vitamin D supplement and drinking milk to try and combat it. If you are living in the dark hours it would probably not be a bad idea for you also.

Take care of yourself anyway man.

Alf Veedersane

Brregzit wrote: »

Whatever, the point being that you burn more if you eat earlier.

You're not eating while you sleep...you don't need your metabolism to be at full tilt.

It makes no difference what time you eat.

Brregzit

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You're not eating while you sleep...you don't need your metabolism to be at full tilt.

It makes no difference what time you eat.

So what if you ate dinner and then went straight to bed?

I remember when I was younger I'd eat two bowls of porridge before bed.

Wanderer78

Brregzit wrote:

So what if you ate dinner and then went straight to bed?

I done this for a while, while on shift, what a disaster, try eat your meals in and around the same time, while on shift, not always an easy thing to do though

Alf Veedersane

Brregzit wrote: »

So what if you ate dinner and then went straight to bed?

I remember when I was younger I'd eat two bowls of porridge before bed.

Biggest problem with that is eating a big meal before going to bed is going to play havoc with a decent sleep.

You're body doesn't shut down while you're asleep. Processes still happen just at a slower rate.

silverharp

for all kinds of reasons i think there would be a consensus on not eating before going to bed. Even if someone has the strangest of routines or you're even a trainee doctor working 20 hours on certain days you should be able to find an eating schedule that doesnt involve eating close to bedtime. Use one meal a day or 2 meals a day or intermittent fasting and get used to the idea that you dot have to eat every 4 hours during your waking hours.

Brregzit

saccades wrote: »

I used fitness classes to get me tired so I slept, also remember no coffee/tea at least 4 hours before bed.

Tea too?

Alf Veedersane

Brregzit wrote: »

Tea too?

There's caffeine in tea.

Tar.Aldarion

Disruption of our normal circadian rhythm can be problematic. Shift work is a "probable carcinogen" according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and Denmark have paid out compensation over it.

UCD GroupThink

brick tamland wrote: »

Calories are calories no matter when you eat them. This not eating late means nothing.

Someone begs to differ. You should listen more than you talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6KClPkotxM

Alf Veedersane

UCD GroupThink wrote: »

Someone begs to differ. You should listen more than you talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6KClPkotxM

Jus because someone begs to differ, doesn't make the point wrong.

UCD GroupThink

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Jus because someone begs to differ, doesn't make the point wrong.

I didn't say it did. Why are you so quick to defend? You disagree. Explain it to me.

Alf Veedersane

UCD GroupThink wrote: »

I didn't say it did. Why are you so quick to defend? You disagree. Explain it to me.

Consensus is that it doesn't matter to any great degree.

You posted a link to a Joe Rogan podcast with Rhonda Patrick as evidence that the poster you quoted was wrong and also suggested that they read more.

Why are you so quick to tell someone they're wrong. Explain it to me.

JJayoo

God I would fciking love an Easter egg

Rvsmmnps

Im not a shift worker.But i do have two young children that wake at 5am every morning.I had to spend time from my family for a few weeks and i noticed to longer sleeps i had dramatically increased my energy in the gym.It reminded me just how important sleep is.
Shift work is hard,you get use to it but its tiring

dastardly00

Rvsmmnps wrote: »

Im not a shift worker.But i do have two young children that wake at 5am every morning.I had to spend time from my family for a few weeks and i noticed to longer sleeps i had dramatically increased my energy in the gym.It reminded me just how important sleep is.
Shift work is hard,you get use to it but its tiring

Just in relation to the bolded part, yes you can get used to night time shift work but you can't negate the detrimental effects of it.

Rvsmmnps

dastardly00 wrote: »

Just in relation to the bolded part, yes you can get used to night time shift work but you can't negate the detrimental effects of it.

It may even depend on the job.Work is work for the majority of people,but lets say you loved your work(lucky people) i wonder are there as many ill effects from that? And do most ill effects only become apparent as we age.


Here in Scandinavia alot of my relatives work 3 weeks on 3 weeks off on the oil rigs in the north sea.Once on the rig they are expected to perform 12-14 hour shifts,even by good salarie amounts here they are paid excellent money..BUT..After the 3 weeks of working night or day it takes them about one week to get back to a normal clock rythem..They all do look a bit tired and wrinkly.
Its an interesting topic for sure.

dastardly00

Rvsmmnps wrote: »

It may even depend on the job.Work is work for the majority of people,but lets say you loved your work(lucky people) i wonder are there as many ill effects from that? And do most ill effects only become apparent as we age.


Here in Scandinavia alot of my relatives work 3 weeks on 3 weeks off on the oil rigs in the north sea.Once on the rig they are expected to perform 12-14 hour shifts,even by good salarie amounts here they are paid excellent money..BUT..After the 3 weeks of working night or day it takes them about one week to get back to a normal clock rythem..They all do look a bit tired and wrinkly.
Its an interesting topic for sure.

Specifically in terms of sleep quality... it doesn't matter if you love or hate the job or if you are paid a bucket of money, people need to be asleep during the night for approx. 8 hours. The available research and literature prove this.

Rvsmmnps

dastardly00 wrote: »

Specifically in terms of sleep quality... it doesn't matter if you love or hate the job or if you are paid a bucket of money, people need to be asleep during the night for approx. 8 hours. The available research and literature prove this.

So its good sleep quality at night.That settles that.



Matthew walker on Joe Rogan,a really insightful interview on the brain and sleep!
episode number #1109