Working in a shift is a new way for people to earn money. On the other hand, companies are making a lot of profit after developing these kinds of habits into the life of the people. However, do you know that there are a lot of risks included in these kinds of jobs, which are majorly hidden from the people? In a recent survey, it has been released that people who work in shifts are prone to get more problems compared to those who regularly work in the daytime. A recent study published in the journal JAMA Network Open revealed that a person who works in a swift faces a 20% chance of developing depression compared to one who works regularly on a daytime schedule.
Not only depression but the study also revealed that the shift workers who are irregularly performing their work and are majorly focused on Night Shift or prone to get 16% more anxiety than the ones who are regularly working on a 9-to-5 job. Many researchers have revealed these kinds of unhealthy jobs as a major cause for people to live an unhealthy lifestyle. Any job which is not a 9 to 5 job, is categorized into this category.
The finding of the research is based on the data from 175,543 people, most middle-aged, and their life was traced down for a decade. Around 28,000 of them were working shift workers.
As the final stage of the study came out, it was revealed that 2 percent of the people were suffering from depression. While the same number of workers were also facing anxiety problems.
The study further revealed that those who are newly joined in the shift jobs are more likely to fall into the trap. Their mental state is not strong enough to tackle the change. Furthermore, their body is not developed to handle the different working schedule. However, as time goes by, the body adapts to certain habits, including late-night work.
After the research gets published, most of the people come out and reveal their problems while working on the shift. It was noted that many people working on the night lift are easily tired and face problems in their sleep schedule.
The JAMA study, which reports on the matter, further elaborates on this work and talks about how the link between shift work and depression and anxiety may be “partly explained ” by such lifestyle factors as workers’ smoking, sleep duration, and sedentary time. The researchers wrote that their study “supports that shift work should be considered an occupational hazard.”
To tackle the problem, many companies have already started working on the issue. But if you check on the long scale, both the people working on any schedule have not developed any special changes. We can’t completely ignore the fact that people, involved in both the work, have shown differences in the mind, but not on the large scale.
The authors also write, “Our study not only supports that shift work should be considered an occupational hazard but also provides evidence for the urgent need for the development of public health interventions that promote healthy lifestyles aimed at improving the mental health of shift workers.”
