Scientists say shift work is unhealthy

It is known that shift work contributes to stress, as well as short and long-term health problems, such as sleep disturbance, fatigue, accidents, the imbalance between personal life and work, as well as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, TASS reported.

A group of scientists from the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University, led by psychobiology professor Göran Kecklund, who deals with sleep problems, made a comparative analysis of three different shift work patterns: traditional, permanent, but also shortened by two hours a week, and individual.

The results showed that working on different schemes experience almost the same problems. Based on this, scientists noted the absence or barely noticeable presence of differences between these schemes in terms of stress, fatigue, health effects, as well as the balance between personal life and work.

The determining factor in the occurrence of stress, sleep disturbances and overall health are working conditions. Thus, they noted that for a well-being of shift workers, a daily rest rate of more than 11 hours, a shorter shift, a ban on working more than two or three night shifts in a row, regular breaks in work, and also staffing shift workers with people who have the necessary qualities for this form of labor.

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