This is your brain on shift work

By Tom Campbell via SWNS

Working shifts rather than a nine-to-five job blunts people's brain, warns a new study.

Workers who clock in and out struggle to stay sharp and focused, which could lead them to make mistakes and hurt themselves, say scientists.

Shift work has been linked to a wide range of health problems including heart and blood disease, obesity, diabetes, sleep and mood disorders, as well as substance abuse.

This is because it messes with people's internal clock, also known as the circadian rhythm, which helps govern many of the body's biological processes.

But its impact on brain functions like processing and remembering information has remained a mystery.

Now scientists have found people working shifts could be putting themselves and others at risk.

The findings were published in the BMJ.

Author Professor Alfred Barth at the Sigmund Freud Private University Linz in Austria said: "Reduced neurobehavioural performance in shift workers might play an important role regarding work-related injuries and errors, with implications for workplace health and safety."

Between 26 and 38 million adults (18%–26% of the population) in the United States are considered to be shift workers, according to a study from 2019.

Data from 18 studies, published between 2005 and 2020, involving 18,802 participants was analyzed by the researchers.

The studies compared workers in fixed and rotating shifts with those pulling normal office hours, although two did not specify what type of work.

Half the studies looked at healthcare professionals, while the others focused on different professions like police officers or IT workers.

In total, the studies measured six different criteria including the workers' ability to process and remember information.

They also looked at their level of alertness and cognitive control, as well as their ability to filter out unimportant visual cues and shift between tasks.

Shift workers performed worse on five of the six outcomes, the researchers found.

Especially in terms of cognitive control, a person's ability to select information and change their behavior accordingly, shift workers lagged behind.

Only when it came to changing between tasks did shift workers step up to the plate, the researchers found.

Companies should therefore take steps to protect shift workers from the strains of their job, like allowing for naps and recovery time.

Professor Barth said: "Protective countermeasures for a reduction in neurobehavioural performance of shift workers should be promoted to minimize the risk of adverse health and work-related outcomes."

The selected studies used different definitions of shift work and a wide range of tests to assess the workers' cognitive abilities, the researchers warn.

Professor Barth added: “When a more consistent body of high-quality literature is available, we highly recommend replication of analysis to develop practical interventions to overcome neurobehavioural impairment.”