Working on Night Shifts Increases Heart Risk

Working at night shifts could be detrimental to your heart after a new study by Canadian and Norwegian researchers found that people who work on night shifts have an increased risk of heart disease compared to those who are on day shifts. Researchers led by Dan Hackam, associate professor at Western University, London Ontario in Canada, analyzed data from more than 34 different studies involving over 2 million workers and identified more than 17,359 coronary problems.

The researchers found that the risk of heart attacks increased by 23 percent while there was a 24 percent increased risk of coronary event among people who worked on night shifts.

“Night shift workers are up all the time and they don't have a defined rest period. They are in a state of perpetual nervous system activation which is bad for things like obesity and cholesterol”, Hackam said. The study has been published in the recent issues of British Medical Journal.

Source-Medindia