The negative impacts of working graveyard/late night shifts

Many people all over the country work night shift either for themselves, to maintain their family,
or because they prefer doing so. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 15 million
Americans work a permanent night shift. Our bodies are used to being relaxed and cooled down
at night and performing different actions in the morning. However, working night shifts can affect
someone's health greatly and make them more vulnerable to disease. Night shifts can also
affect sleeping patterns and cause sleeping disorders, one last factor I will be discussing is how
it can affect someone's mental health.

Without sleep, we all function a little differently. Sleep is not a luxury or something that we
shouldn’t be doing. It’s a necessity. “More than 100 million Americans are sleep deprived”
(Jurisic, 2022). In 2020, a study showed that Americans felt “ sleepy” during times that should
be a waking hours. Many are cutting our sleep to 6 hours or less to do other activities. Night
workers typically get two hours less sleep than daytime workers, and much of that sleep time is
less restful. This means, night shift workers don’t sleep as relaxed as daytime workers. Its hard
because many have busy schedules, and that's why they work night shifts. It could be school or
having two jobs during the day. Sleeping is very important, and not sleeping normal hours, or
sleeping at times that your body isn’t used to can affect the way you live your life.

Not only do night shifts cause sleeping problems, but they also make you more vulnerable to
disease, which is another impact I'll be discussing. A study conducted at the Douglas Mental
Health University Institute and McGill University. A night owl is at greater risk of developing
cardiovascular, autoimmune diseases or certain types of cancer. For the study, nine healthy
volunteers were subjected to work night shifts. Researchers studied different aspects of the
immune system, as well as compared rhythm to cytokines and immune cells. While other
volunteers lived a normal day, working day shifts. “ We found that cytokine- secretion rhythms,
which were normal under the day-oriented schedule, were disturbed when volunteers were
living under the night-oriented schedule” ( Cermakai n, 2016).

One of the last impacts that I would want to discuss is how mental health is affected by night
shifts. Working night shifts can affect relationships with family and friends, and the things you do
every day. “Working night shifts forces people to fight against their own natural circadian clocks
each day, leaving them vulnerable to mental health” (Robb- Dover, 2021). Graveyard shifts
aren’t easy. When trying to sleep during the day, many have set plans like doctor appointments,
taking their kids to school, or as I mentioned previously they work two jobs. You don’t have a lot
of time to spend with family members or care for yourself. You can start to feel very isolated and
alone when you’re always working and always busy. This can cause chronic stress which can
eventually lead to depression. Oftentimes people focus more on their job or other things in their
life, and it’s important to look after yourself too. Working graveyard shifts isn’t easy and it
definitely isn’t for everyone, there are many things that can affect you and the way you live your
life. Sleep problems, diseases, mental health, and all other impacts that graveyard shifts has on
us should be talked about more often.
Work Cited:
https://fherehab.com/learning/mental-health-night-shift#:~:text=Night%20shift%20workers%20c
an%20develop,depression%20or%20other%20mood%20disorders.

https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/impact-night-work-our-immune-system-261292

https://www.uclahealth.org/sleepcenter/coping-with-shift-work#:~:text=Overall%2C%20shift%20
workers%20tend%20to,fall%20asleep%20during%20the%20day.

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/01/night-work

https://www.concentra.com/resource-center/articles/effects-of-shift-work-the-danger-of-not-gettin
g-enough-sleep/