The perfect way to look after your health if you work shifts

"We have a clock in the hypothalamus in the brain, and that clock has evolved to control many aspects of our physiology. This includes metabolism and immune system, hormones, and heart, lung and brain function. We've evolved to be awake in the daytime and asleep at night. When we do shift work, we're going against what our natural rhythms want us to do."

"The knock-on effects on systemic health are many: We know that shift workers have a higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, stroke, depression, anxiety and some types of cancer. The World Health Organization has classified shift work as probably carcinogenic. Depression is more likely. Working nights can raise cortisol levels, and impair cognition and memory. When you mess up the circadian clock, you mess up all the systems it controls."

Approximately 8.7 million people in the UK work night shifts. Humans have a clock in the hypothalamus that regulates metabolism, the immune system, hormones, and heart, lung and brain function. Humans evolved to be awake by day and asleep at night, so night, early and evening shift patterns misalign sleep timing and circadian-driven physiology. Shift work is associated with higher risks of heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, stroke, depression, anxiety and certain cancers, and has been classified as probably carcinogenic by the World Health Organization. Night work can raise cortisol, impair cognition and memory, worsen infection outcomes, and correlate with higher smoking and relationship breakdowns. Some shift work is essential for emergency, hospital and care services, while many commercial 24-hour operations are less clearly justified.

Read at www.theguardian.com