EPA/ANP
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 06:00
Young people are at greatest risk of developing a sleep disorder due to shift work, especially if they are less educated. The effect is greatest during night and alternating shifts, but also applies to a lesser extent to evening shifts and early morning shifts. Older workers and people with higher education seem to be less affected.
This is evident from a survey among more than 37,000 Flemish people, conducted by Dutch sleep scientists. Half of people who work night shifts sleep less than six hours per night. Also half suffer from at least one chronic sleep disorder, meaning they have been struggling with it for more than three months. More than a quarter have at least two sleep disorders.
This is only the second study worldwide that, in addition to insomnia, also looks at other sleep disorders during shift work: hypersomnia (drowsiness during the day), parasomnia (undesirable symptoms during sleep such as sleepwalking and nightmares), sleep apnea, movement disorders such as restless leg syndrome, and disturbances. of the sleep-wake rhythm.
More common in women
Almost all of these disorders are more common among young people. In addition, they are also more common among women than among men, with the exception of sleep apnea. With the latter condition the relationship is exactly the other way around. Men also sleep slightly shorter on average than women.
The participants were not asked about their profession. But from the results you can deduce that a young night worker in a distribution center runs a greater risk of a sleep disorder than a 40-year-old surgeon, agrees Marike Lancel, one of the sleep researchers. However, it is not the case that you become better at night shifts as you get older: “Above the age of fifty you can no longer cope as well.”
How do you limit the effects of night shifts?
Night shifts have negative effects, but you can minimize them. Try to maintain a fixed rhythm as much as possible, both in terms of eating and sleeping outside of shifts. Grab as much daylight as possible, it’s good for your biological clock. Continue to eat healthy and exercise enough, and don’t forget your social life.
But that will never completely eliminate the effects, Lancel emphasizes: “People who work shifts will always have a different sleep-wake rhythm than the environment in which they live, making it unlikely that you can prevent all negative effects.”
Recent figures show that more than a fifth of workers in the European Union sometimes work evening, night or early morning shifts. Lancel hopes that more attention will be paid to the effect of night and other shifts: “Many people work at night, and in many institutions it is poorly organised. In my opinion, employers should pay more attention to this. Many companies already have better schedules, but in healthcare, for example, this is not always the case.”
2023-12-07 05:00:01
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