Night is long: Why working this shift may raise the risk of cardiac diseases

Night is long: Why working this shift may raise the risk of cardiac diseases

 DurgeshNandan.Jha@timesofindia.com 7.9.2024

New Delhi : Working in night shifts can disrupt the body’s ability to regulate heart rhythm and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, a study published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (JFMPC) has found. The study was carried out on 38 nurses working at a govt hospital in Greater Noida who worked in day (9 am to 2 pm) and night shifts (9 pm to 9 am) for at least one year. 

The nurses underwent sleep quality tests and electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure heart-rate variability. It revealed that the sleep latency time it takes to fall asleep after turning off the lights and entering the first stage of sleep – was longer in the night shift workers compared to the morning shift workers. Also, the night shift worker group exhibited longer total sleep time and greater use of sleeping medication as compared to the day shift workers. 

Inadequate sleep, the research led by Dr Aprajita Panwar from Govt Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida states, can dis rupt the body’s ability to regulate heart rhythm and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality. The JFMPC study calls for providing adequate breaks, offering support services like counselling and wellness programs, and implementing flexible scheduling options where possible by healthcare institutions to mitigate the negative impacts of shift work on nurses.

“By implementing such strategies, healthcare institutions can enhance job satisfaction and improve patient care by ensuring that nurses are psychologically prepared to deliver high-quality care to patients,” the study says. Dr Pujan Parikh, consultant pulmonary medicine and sleep medicine expert at H N Reliance Foundation hospital, Mumbai said continuous night shift affects the circadian rhythm i.e. our biological clock. “It leads to a change in our eating habits as well as psychological stress. All these things additionally increase the risk of cardiac diseases in the night shift workers,” he said.  “Nurses who are on night shift barely get to take a break because their job involves constant monitoring of the patients and attending to their emergency needs. It is a very taxing job. Once they go back home in the daytime, even then it is difficult to get sound sleep as there are household responsibilities to attend to. It, of course, affects the health,” Anita Panwar, president of the All-India Govt Nurses Federation said.