Long-Term Shift Work Drains the Brain?
By Sol Cali
HEALTH DAY NEWS reports that working non-standard hours (shift work) for many years is not only hard on the body, but may also dull the mind.
An age-related decline in memory and thinking skills equivalent to an extra 6.5 years are observed for thosewho do shift work for more than 10 years. However, the study did not prove that shift work wasthe definitive cause of those changes; it found only a close relationship between shift work and impairments in memory and thinking.
Alertness, thinking and memory are affected as shown in previous research, according to Jean-Claude Marquie, research director, National Center for Scientific Research, University of Toulouse, France.
To get a better idea of the possible long-term effects, Marquie and colleagues traced the mental abilities of more than 3,000 men and women across France in 1996, 2001 and 2006, who were employed in various sectors or who had retired. The subjects were aged32, 42, 52 and 62 when they took the first set of tests to gauge memory.More than 1,000 of them worked a rotating shift pattern that switched back and forth among morning, afternoons and nights.
The overallresult is that shift workers had lower memory, thinking and processing speed scores than those who had worked only standard hours. Those who worked in rotating shifts for 10 years or more had lower scores.
The researcher found that it took at least five years for workers to recover mental skills, except for processing speed.
Christopher Colwell, professor of psychiatry at University of California said, "It's not a new finding, it's something that all of us intuitively know… but it's a well-documented finding."
Colwell said. "What we can see very clearly… is that one of the things that seems to occur during sleep is that the brain stores information into long-term memory." When sleep is disrupted, he said, so is the storage of that information.”
He stressed that some people adapt better to shift work than others. In general, those who live their lives in reverse, meaning they sleep at day and work at night, do better.
For those working in the night shift, if possible, they may take a 30-45-minute nap during break time, Colwell recommends.
The late Renato Embalsado, former personnel manager of an international garments factory in Taytay, Rizal said in 2012 that accidents occur mostly in workers on the night shift. He suspected poor coordination of the brain, eyes and hand.
Smartpinoysatbp.com believes that our Department of Health in collaboration with the Employees Compensation Commission and other stakeholders should find ways to create guidelines on long-term shift work for the benefit of our workers and their families.
Sources: Health Day News & Occupational and Environmental Medicine online
30 January 2015
HEALTH DAY NEWS reports that working non-standard hours (shift work) for many years is not only hard on the body, but may also dull the mind.
An age-related decline in memory and thinking skills equivalent to an extra 6.5 years are observed for thosewho do shift work for more than 10 years. However, the study did not prove that shift work wasthe definitive cause of those changes; it found only a close relationship between shift work and impairments in memory and thinking.
Alertness, thinking and memory are affected as shown in previous research, according to Jean-Claude Marquie, research director, National Center for Scientific Research, University of Toulouse, France.
To get a better idea of the possible long-term effects, Marquie and colleagues traced the mental abilities of more than 3,000 men and women across France in 1996, 2001 and 2006, who were employed in various sectors or who had retired. The subjects were aged32, 42, 52 and 62 when they took the first set of tests to gauge memory.More than 1,000 of them worked a rotating shift pattern that switched back and forth among morning, afternoons and nights.
The overallresult is that shift workers had lower memory, thinking and processing speed scores than those who had worked only standard hours. Those who worked in rotating shifts for 10 years or more had lower scores.
The researcher found that it took at least five years for workers to recover mental skills, except for processing speed.
Christopher Colwell, professor of psychiatry at University of California said, "It's not a new finding, it's something that all of us intuitively know… but it's a well-documented finding."
Colwell said. "What we can see very clearly… is that one of the things that seems to occur during sleep is that the brain stores information into long-term memory." When sleep is disrupted, he said, so is the storage of that information.”
He stressed that some people adapt better to shift work than others. In general, those who live their lives in reverse, meaning they sleep at day and work at night, do better.
For those working in the night shift, if possible, they may take a 30-45-minute nap during break time, Colwell recommends.
The late Renato Embalsado, former personnel manager of an international garments factory in Taytay, Rizal said in 2012 that accidents occur mostly in workers on the night shift. He suspected poor coordination of the brain, eyes and hand.
Smartpinoysatbp.com believes that our Department of Health in collaboration with the Employees Compensation Commission and other stakeholders should find ways to create guidelines on long-term shift work for the benefit of our workers and their families.
Sources: Health Day News & Occupational and Environmental Medicine online
30 January 2015