Back in April I still thought that with the use of Natural Supplements, midnight shift isn’t a problem for me.. However, due to my elevated blood pressure, my doctor had pulled me off and asked me to avoid the graveyard shift.
This evening, a good friend of mine forwarded the link to the news concerning the night shift work and its link to cancer. Then I saw a news flash and went back to read the detail. Hm, this may change my perception on graveyard shift.
I also thought, it would affect many people. After all night shift is part of the modern life. Look at the hospitals. Would we only have people that are working the 9 -5 schedule then say good bye and leave all the patients staying at the hospitals until the next morning? Would we let the computers to handle all the jobs of the nurses and doctors? That is only for the hospitals, a small part of our modern society. What about the power plants, factories, communication lines, computer networks, etc? Even the most computerized systems still need someone behind all the computers, right?
According to the report,
Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a “probable” cause of cancer.
I think we can avoid the UV rays as well as reducing the long term exposure to diesel exhaust fumes, but what about people that have to work the midnight shift?
I know there were many studies to alleviate the negative effect of night shift. There are some suggestions such as blacken the windows to make your bedroom totally dark in the day time while you sleep after a night shift. That will promote the production of melatonin in your body and help you sleep better. However, with the publication of this study on night shift and cancer risk, I’m sure that would be more considerations before someone decides to take a job that may include the night shifts. But we are in a society that is impossible to eliminate the midnight shift at all. Would a hazardous pay — a term that my friend used in her email — being added to the night shift make it attractive?
I don’t have the answer, but I just hope someone will find a better way to reduce that cancer risk, should further studies confirm that the outcomes of current study are true.
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I saw on the news too about the risk of having cancer for those who works at night (grave yard). Got to be careful to what you eat too
As I read on the magazine too that good sleep boosts the immune system. Melatonin, produced when you sleep, is a cancer-fighting antioxidant. Night-shift workers may have up to 70 times greater risk of breast cancer. Got another antioxidant in what you eat too
Fely and Nanik,
I take antioxidant daily. There was a video in my previous post showing the OPC-3 as a potent antioxidant. I take OPC-3 daily and at least it has helped me with my seasonal allergy, but thanks for the advice.