Shift Work Sucks
The Associated Press reported today that next month the International Agency for Research on Cancer (part of the World Health Organization) will be listing graveyard shift work as a "probable carcinogen".
The article by Maria Cheng is chock full of interesting and alarming information. "The higher cancer rates don't prove working overnight can cause cancer. There may be other factors common among graveyard shift workers that raise their risk for cancer. However, scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body's biological clock. The hormone melatonin, which can suppress tumor development, is normally produced at night."
I have never known anyone that works the graveyard shift that likes it (for long), is healthier for it or ever truely turns their entire schedule around for it. Funny, the article quotes Mark Rea, the director of the Light Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York as saying "Night shift people tend to be day shift people who are trying to stay awake at night". Ain't that the truth? I remember an employee calling me up to find out "if it was ok" for him to sleep at his desk during his (graveyard) shift if he had no work to do. Er, um, no?
Read the entire article here. It will be interesting to see what science AND media does with this one.
5 comments:
I didn't read the article yet.
BUT, I could be one of their data point.
I was working night shifts when I discovered the lump on my neck, which turned out to contain full of Hodgkin's cancer cells. I had been on that shift for 3 months when that happened.
And in college, I always stayed up until way past midnight..
HMMM.
HR Wench,
I take issue with your comment that you've never met people that want to or like working the night shift. There are plenty of people who prefer to work at night, for a wide range of reasons.
This announcement from the IARC is important, and shiftworkers should pay attention to it. But the IARC found a correlation between shiftwork and cancer -- not a causal relationship. That's a big difference. Further research is not clearly needed to determine what it is about shiftwork, or about the behavior of shiftworkers, that produces this modest increase in cancer risk.
I'm not in denial about potential health risks associated with shiftwork. I believe they are real. But, since our 24/7 world is a fact of life, I think we do best to focus on how to use the best available scientific evidence to make shiftwork as healhty and safe as possible.
(I discussed this same announcement on my blog at http://shiftworkinformation.blogspot.com/2008/01/night-shift-work-raises-cancer-risks.html.)
Ed Coburn
Executive Director, National Shiftwork Information Center
What up Ed? Thanks for stopping by. You might want to take a gander at this post again. All I said is what I have experienced: "I have never known anyone that works the graveyard shift that likes it (for long)". I'm not dogging it, just telling my readers what I've experienced. I'm sure there are people out there who totally love it - but I've never met one of them (to my knowledge). But hey it sounds like you possibly work it and like it so now I have kind of met one! :)
I have to agree with Ed. Having discussed shift work with, and surveyed, tens of thousands of shiftworkers, asking this specific question, 15% prefer working night shift to either day shift or afternoon shift.
So, while you have met only one that might like night shift (Ed), I have met thousands. And they are still normal people, with goals similar to the rest of us.
That said, many people will agree that, if they had the option, they would rather not work shift work.
Best regards,
Dan Capshaw
Shiftwork Solutions LLC
www.shift-work.com
Shift work is not healthy for a variety of reasons and to be sure, those that work night shift typically exercise less and have less healthy diets (what is open for a healthy dinner at 3a.m??) based on our surveys. The fact that researchers are looking at all angles and are trying to find the real cause of cancer for those working nights is a good sign. To say it is just based on circadian issues is short sighted and I like that other avenues are explored. People prefer 3rd shift over 2nd shift 2 to 1, but that doesn't mean that the majority of people want to work either one. It is the students, rare night owls, and those with two jobs or with family requirements requiring spouses to work different schedules that typically find shift work ideal for their circumstances.
Managers miss the mark trying to make shift work environments "better." Check out an article I wrote at http://www.corepractice.com called It's Not About The Money to get some survey results from our past clients. Even though everyone wants more money, we find managers try to pay you an extra 50 cents an hour and never address the issues that you are ACTUALLY facing with poor shift schedules.
Enjoy!
John Frehse
Core Practice Partners
212 534 0539
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