NIGHT SHIFT WORK IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED RISK OF ASTHMA
Shift work causes mis-alignment between internal circadian time and the external light/dark cycle and is associated with metabolic disorders and cancer.
20% of the working population in industrialised countries work permanent or rotating night shifts, exposing this large population to the risk of circadian misalignment-driven disease.
Analysis of the impact of shift work on chronic inflammatory disease is lacking.
This research study investigated the association between shift work and asthma.
Results of the study
Compared with day workers ‘permanent’ night shift workers had a higher likelihood of moderate-severe asthma and all asthma.
Individuals doing any type of shift work had higher adjusted odds of wheeze/whistling in the chest.
Researchers conclude – The public health implications of these finding are far-reaching due to the high prevalence and co-occurrence of both asthma and shift work.
A junior doctor in the UK ‘fell asleep’ at the wheel after a 12-hour shift at a hospital and struck a woman and her two young children, then hit another woman. One victim had a leg amputated.
The barrister said it was “overwhelmingly likely’ that the doctor had briefly fallen asleep after finishing his night shift.
The knock on effect with injuries sustained by the victims tells us that this driving under extreme tiredness/exhaustion should not be possible.
We have nothing in our world that bans drivers when they are unfit to drive due to lack of sleep.
WHY have we not got any form of self care in our agenda for all physicians as we know how tiring their job is?
If we have got this going on at junior level – how will they end up once fully qualified?
Have we considered that if our doctors are unable to do 12 hour night shifts then what kind of care and advice will they be giving their patients?
We all know the NHS is at breaking point with not enough staff and in particular shortages of doctors, which leads to very long waiting times, in particular at emergency departments during the night but how do we change this?
What if part of the doctors training was in self care and well-being, as common sense tells us that a person with vitality levels that can be seen and felt means that we are in the best hands possible for our own medical needs?
It is high time we changed how we allow our caring profession to be trained without any serious self care measures in place.
Comments 2
British Medical Journal – 15 December 2020
https://thorax.bmj.com/content/76/1/53
NIGHT SHIFT WORK IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED RISK OF ASTHMA
Shift work causes mis-alignment between internal circadian time and the external light/dark cycle and is associated with metabolic disorders and cancer.
20% of the working population in industrialised countries work permanent or rotating night shifts, exposing this large population to the risk of circadian misalignment-driven disease.
Analysis of the impact of shift work on chronic inflammatory disease is lacking.
This research study investigated the association between shift work and asthma.
Results of the study
Compared with day workers ‘permanent’ night shift workers had a higher likelihood of moderate-severe asthma and all asthma.
Individuals doing any type of shift work had higher adjusted odds of wheeze/whistling in the chest.
Researchers conclude – The public health implications of these finding are far-reaching due to the high prevalence and co-occurrence of both asthma and shift work.
Mail Online – 1 December 2022
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11490239/Junior-doctor-fell-asleep-wheel-12-hour-shift-ploughed-mother-jailed.html
A junior doctor in the UK ‘fell asleep’ at the wheel after a 12-hour shift at a hospital and struck a woman and her two young children, then hit another woman. One victim had a leg amputated.
The barrister said it was “overwhelmingly likely’ that the doctor had briefly fallen asleep after finishing his night shift.
The knock on effect with injuries sustained by the victims tells us that this driving under extreme tiredness/exhaustion should not be possible.
We have nothing in our world that bans drivers when they are unfit to drive due to lack of sleep.
WHY have we not got any form of self care in our agenda for all physicians as we know how tiring their job is?
If we have got this going on at junior level – how will they end up once fully qualified?
Have we considered that if our doctors are unable to do 12 hour night shifts then what kind of care and advice will they be giving their patients?
We all know the NHS is at breaking point with not enough staff and in particular shortages of doctors, which leads to very long waiting times, in particular at emergency departments during the night but how do we change this?
What if part of the doctors training was in self care and well-being, as common sense tells us that a person with vitality levels that can be seen and felt means that we are in the best hands possible for our own medical needs?
It is high time we changed how we allow our caring profession to be trained without any serious self care measures in place.