While many people in Athens are ending their working day, other students and local residents are leaving to work the night shift, which a recent study finds could make them prone to health risks, such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.
A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that working the night shift increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity.
When someone’s sleeping and eating cycles are disrupted, the levels of leptin, which regulates the body’s weight, decreases and that causes the person to feel hungry, said Frank A. J. L. Scheer, the lead author of the study. This is where the risk of obesity and diabetes comes in, he said.
The short-term effects of working the night shift are impaired sleep and disrupted cognitive functions during the day. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity are the long-term effects, Scheer said.
Many places on the Ohio U. campus and in Athens are open until the earlier hours of the day and offer night shift options, but many night shift workers said they are more worried about balancing their schedules than health problems.
“The night shift is good for me because I am home during the day,” said Brenda Arnold, a night shift custodian in OU’s Baker University Center.
Arnold works the night shift Monday through Friday. Working this shift gives her the opportunity to get her children off to school in the morning and still be able to get them home in the afternoon, Arnold said.
Students also said they work the night shift to have more free time during the day.
“I don’t have conflicts with classes or extracurricular (activities),” said Kellie Galan, a junior studying journalism who has worked the night shift at Alden Library for the past two years.
Galan said that working the late hours is difficult with classes, but she now schedules her classes around when she works.
Arnold and Galan said they were not aware of the health risks, but the jobs do affect their sleep patterns.
“I guess I have a more irregular sleep schedule than most people,” Galan said.
Levels of glucose, the body’s main energy source, and insulin are increased in people who work the night shift, according to the study. Night shift workers show symptoms similar to jet lag such as gastrointestinal complaints, fatigue and poor sleep, according to the study.
The increased level of glucose heightens the risk for heart disease, obesity and diabetes. It also causes an increase in blood pressure while awake, Scheer said.
“(There is) no real big affect (to my health) but I will say it does make it hard to sleep,” Arnold said.