A new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Behavioral Medicine led by Jean-Claude Marquié, Ph.D., a research director at the University of Toulouse in France, has shown that memory, information processing and just overall brain function suffers when people work shifts varying from day and night.
This shift work the study refers to is being defined as rotating shifts where at least 50 days out of the year, you go to bed after midnight, work through the night, or wake up before 5 a.m.
These numbers get a little confusing, but this is basically how the study went:
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The researchers started out with 3,119 people. All were given surveys and took three mental ability tests. All were tested when they were 32, 42, 52 or 62 years of age, again five years later and five years after that. At five years after starting the study, 2,183 people from the original group filled out surveys and took the mental ability tests again. At 10 years after the start of the study, 1,253 people from the original group completed this process again. Of the people who started in the study, 1,484 worked shifts or had in the past, and 1,635 had not.
If a participant had been working rotating shifts for more than 10 years, his or her test results showed them being on the same mental level as somebody 6.5 years older. But the good news is, if people left their rotating shift positions, or changed schedules at least 5 years in, the memory loss and other changes could be reversible.
The authors seem to think that the main issues could be that the body’s internal 24-hour clock (circadian rhythm) gets out of whack when sleep schedules change frequently, not to mention lack of vitamin D from the sun and heart disease complications from metabolic syndrome.
Basically, when possible, try not to have schedules that are constantly changing and fluctuating. Also, exercise, a healthy diet and active social life were recommended to help with these problems.
