Shift Work Hazards (StatPearls)
Summary
This StatPearls entry reviews the health and safety hazards linked to shift work. It describes how irregular schedules contribute to insomnia, excessive sleepiness, and increased risk of workplace accidents and drowsy driving. Long-term associations include cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, some cancers, and mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, and burnout. The article also outlines the diagnostic criteria for Shift Work Disorder and discusses mitigation strategies, including sleep hygiene, controlled light exposure, naps, melatonin, wake-promoting agents, and adjustments to shift scheduling.
Why It Matters For Night Shift Workers and Night Owls
This overview shows the broad scope of risks associated with non-traditional schedules, from immediate safety concerns to long-term health effects. It also highlights that management is multifaceted: strategies for recovery, alertness, and scheduling are being studied and applied in clinical and workplace settings. For night-shift workers, this underscores why experiences of fatigue, sleep disturbance, or health changes are taken seriously in medical research and why ongoing evaluation of both risks and interventions remains important.
Notes
Continuously updated reference.