I know on the show they brought up the things on night shift dangers. My question for it would be is it good to sleep for say maybe a couple of hours in the morning and then say 5 hours in the afternoon before going to work or is that bad?

No this is not a good Idea. There are different stages of sleep that make up your sleep Architecture. If you break up your sleep the disruption can change the balance of the different stages of sleep. The best thing you can do is, be sure to go to bed and get up the same time everyday, give yourself enough time in bed to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. Don’t take naps, when you work at night be sure you have as many lights on as possible at least in the beginning of your “day” a light box would be ideal, when you get home and are preparing for bed have the lights as low as possible, when you drive home after work before bed, be sure to wear sunglasses. If you get your Circadian Rhythm, or internal clock, set to the shift you are on, this will minimize the medical issues associated with night shift work. Also be sure you eat your meals like you would if you were a day person, eat breakfast when you get up, eat lunch maybe a snack and then dinner a few hours before bed. Night shift work also tends to make people crave unhealthy snacks, try to be aware of what your eating. Be sure when you sleep your room is as dark as possible, use black out curtains, don’t have a TV on, even covering your alarm clock numbers can help. If there is noise during the day a sound machine is helpful, if you must have noise and can’t get a sound machine, a CD of ocean sounds, or instrumental music will work as well, you don’t want TV or radio, the TV is a stimulant, and makes it more difficult to sleep, and the radio could be to if you are interested in what is being said. Have a bedtime routine, like a hot bath, reading, etc. This helps your body prepare for sleep. If you get to the point you are falling asleep when you intend to and can wake up the same time everyday without an alarm clock, that means your acclimated to your paticular schedule, which helps eliminate the stresses and sleep disorders associated with shift work. Oh, I am a Registered Sleep Tech, so I not only speak from education and training, but I also worked night shift for about 5 years. SO I also have personal experience. I’d be happy to answer any other questions you may have if you’d like. Michele

It is so not a good idea to get “broken sleep”. My sister works third shift (10 pm to 7 am) andshe is doing the broken sleep method simply because her husband demands that she spend time with him before he goes to his second shift job. She gets no more than 4 hours of sleep at any given time. And, sad to say, it’s killing her….literally. Her blood pressure has sky-rocketed, her once controlled diabeties is out of whack,she is always fatigued, she has even fallen asleep at work—-while operating dangerous machinery. The once peacemaker person in our family (the one who saw only the good in people) has become an irratable mess. She’s little more than a zombie. No matter what shift you work, you HAVE GOT to get a full 8 hrs of uninterupted sleep, even if you have to anger a few people in the process. What good will you be to any of them if your health is compromised?

I missed this show but am very interested in the problems associated with night shift. I have worked night shift for 4 years now and am noticing an increase in blood pressure. Could this be the reason? Also, would love to hear the other effects night shift has. Thanks

For more information on this show, at the top of any page run your cursor over the EPISODES tab and click on ARCHIVES. Click on the link for the January 20, 2009 show. To the left of the video click on SHOW SYNOPSIS.

Night-Shift Dangers

Working late is sometimes called the graveyard shift. But could there be a kernel of truth to the expression?

About
one in five workers do night-shift work, and it may harm their health.
A study of more than 78,000 women by the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute found that night-shift workers have a 35 percent increased
risk of colorectal cancer, 60 percent increased risk of breast cancer
and 70 percent of the late workers suffer from insomnia, headaches and
excessive sleepiness. “This is disturbing, because this is 20 percent
of our country,” Dr. Travis says. “This is a serious problem.”

The
hormone melatonin helps suppress tumors and cancer, and it is usually
released by the body at night. “When you don’t sleep, you don’t have as
much melatonin,” Dr. Jim says. “And that’s one of the big reasons,
probably, why you have that increased risk of cancer.”

“This
is more like being constantly jet-lagged,” Dr. Ordon says, remembering
when he had to work nights. “There was a feeling in your body. I don’t
know what it was, but you just felt sick. Then you worked through it,
you were able to function, but then you just crash.”

Dr.
Travis advises night-shift workers to make sure that when they do
sleep, the room is extremely dark. Building to the night shift by
gradually changing your schedule will make it easier for the body to
acclimate to the later hours, as well.

My husband has the worst working hours. One week day shift and one week night shift, which means he can never get into a routine, as soon as his body is used to night shift it switches back to day shift.

He constantly feels sick, but he feels especially run down during the night shift weeks. His diet is also very bad during the night shifts, as he eats only 2 meals a day. He comes home from night shift at around 4am and then plays computer games or watches tv for a while and then go to sleep, waking up at around 11/12pm and then he eats lunch (no ’breakfast’), works out, relaxes and gets ready for work again at 5pm. He has been working like this for most of his adult life but it seems to be getting harder and harder for him to cope with now that he is in his early 30’s. His blood pressure is especially high when he works night shift. Is this going to lead to health problems in the long run?