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Health Issues With 12 Hour Rotating Shifts

Dealing with normal daily schedules is hard on an individual. Family, appointments, shopping, friends and even entertainment all revolve around work. Most people find it hard enough to fit everything in when the job is a regular day shift. Unfortunately, working 12-hour rotating shifts makes it even harder to maintain a social life. With all the juggling, workers need to be extra careful with their health.

  1. Circadian Rhythm

    • People have a circadian rhythm, which is the body's internal clock. Circadian rhythm has a daily oscillation of brain activity, hormone production, body temperature and metabolism. "This rhythm regulates the sleep and eating cycles every day. Workers can adjust their internal clocks to working at night over time. However, when the shifts continually change, the body's clock cannot adjust accordingly and eventually fatigue sets in.

    Stress

    • Humans are social creatures of habit from working during the day and socializing at night. Rotating shift workers find themselves missing out on time spent with family and friends. Eventually workers find themselves dealing with stress due to reduced social involvement and lack of sleep. For some rotating shift workers stress is not an issue, but for others it creates tension at home and in the work place.

    Physical Ailments

    • Heart disease, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal upsets, and fatigue due to sleep disorders can be caused by rotating shift work. Night shift workers sleep an average of two to three hours less than day shift workers. Normally, neurotransmitters increase to keep the body awake during the day and reduce at night to allow sleep. When the body's natural rhythm keeps changing with rotating shifts, the worker's physical health suffers.

    Increased Weight

    • The most common problems for the rotating 12-hour shift workers are gastrointestinal complaints such as constipation, diarrhea, flatulence, heartburn and abdominal pain. The cause of this is poor eating habits brought on from lack of time to prepare healthy foods. The body's digestion slows down at night creating difficulties digesting the excess fat from takeout foods. Poor eating habits and excessive coffee drinking to stay awake will inevitably add to the body's mass.

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