Saltillo, Coahuila.- The doctor Guadalupe Teran Perezspecialist in Sleep Medicinereported that various studies carried out at national and international level demonstrate that the rotation of work shifts alters various “clocks” of the bodywhich can cause overweight, obesity, diabetes, hypertensionsome types of cancer y heart attacks.
“ The diseases that have been identified in people who rotate shifts are a higher risk of diabetes, hypertension, a higher risk of metabolic syndrome disorder, and they also have a higher risk of heart attacks and a higher risk of developing some types of cancer, precisely because they are moving this biological clock. Mainly breast cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer have been studied.”
The researcher of the Neurological and Sleep Center of Mexico City, He pointed out that the impact is greater when the worker finishes work in the morning and must report to work in the afternoon.
“ That is the worst shift, because then our body is completely out of sync, all the clocks are out of sync and that is what causes cellular inflammation, causes metabolic damage, causes high blood pressure and these are the workers who are going to see that in a short time are going to develop all these chronic diseases, in addition to restricting themselves from sleeping, because they do not give their body the opportunity to sleep.”
“ We are made to sleep at night, when it is dark, because at that time melatonin is secreted, which is a very important hormone to initiate and maintain sleep.”
“ The problem with rotating shifts is that it will disrupt our central biological clock, which is in the brain, which is a structure that knows that we have to be awake when it is light, that we have to be asleep when it is dark.
But our entire body, he added, has different clocks that are going to synchronize with our physiological processes and also with the activities what we do.
“ So, rotating shifts means that you sleep at different times, you eat at different times, you do activities at different times, and all of this is going to damage your body. There are people who can adapt more easily to rotation and those are the most nocturnal people, those who function better at night, who tend to stay up a little longer and get up later,” he said.
