You could probably name a few jobs out there that are obviously bad for your health, or just outright dangerous. But have you ever thought about a specific shift being bad for you? Truth is, working hours can have a serious effect on your health. In this article I’ll explain what the worst working hours are and how to avoid the health risks.
A University of Pittsburg study has suggested to avoid the third shift, due to possible adverse health affects. The study suggests that working late into the night can increase chances of diabetes, decrease resting metabolic rate, and put you at risk for other diseases.
It’s because staying up late into the night is not natural for our bodies. Those crazy hours mess up the biological clock and decrease the amount, and quality of sleep.
Another challenge that night shift workers have to deal with is eating right. The chances of finding descent food late at night is slim to none, unless you’re cooking it. But that’s probably not happening while you’re at work.
While you should do everything possible to avoid working these crazy hours, it’s obviously not possible for everybody. Someone has to put up with it……and it’s not the end of the world if you do. There are some simple solutions that will help you keep a healthy lifestyle.
If you have no other choice but to work a late night or even a whole third shift, you have to realize that it’s out of your control. So then just focus on the things that you can control. Some diabetes preventative measures that you can control are exercising daily, sleeping for 7-9 hours when you can, and eating a good diet.
As I mentioned before, eating right gets significantly harder when the sun goes down. To remedy that, just bring your own lunch/3am snack with you to work. Fill it with convenient foods like grapes, berries, nuts, and a whole wheat wrap with deli meat. Those foods are easy to eat on the go and they keep your fingers busy so you won’t crave other garbage snack foods.
Hopefully you can avoid the worst working ours of the night, but if you can’t, just do your best to keep a healthy lifestyle. If you’re a late night worker and you have some other advice on how to “survive”, leave a comment below. Please, take a second to share a link on facebook! If you liked this post you’ll definitely like 6 Effective Ways To Fall Asleep And Wake Up Refreshed.
About Adam Pegg
