WORKING IN NIGHT SHIFT

Working in night shift



Introduction

In nursing and health sectors, in order to provide comprehensive 24-hour service to the patients working at night shifts is essential. However, doctors and nurses are physiologically programmed to be asleep but remain awake as required by the night shift. Consequences of working at night shift include risks to patient and personal safety as chances of making mistakes or poor decisions are high. Moreover, physical and psychological consequences also occur as the night time worker is constantly out of phase.

As people age, it is especially hard to deal with the effects of night work. They suffer those chronobiological problems that usually people working at day and evening shifts do not. In days off and work days, rotation of shifts is common. This means that they work at night for five days in a typical week and then try to follow normal day time shift in next week. Even if a worker is a permanent night shift worker, in off days they try to follow the schedules with their family or friends. During working hours, these workers suffer from somnolence and during sleep they suffer from insomnia because they cannot synchronize fully due to schedule disturbances. Work performance and productivity of night workers are also impaired. Therefore, this topic needs intense investigation as a subject because the prevalence of night shifts in our society.

Study Objectives

Circadian rhythm is affected when working the night shift. First objective is to discuss what it is and how working the night shift affects on circadian rhythm.

Cardiovascular disorders can occur when working the night shift. Second objective is to discuss what the effects are on your heart when working the night shift.

Gastrointestinal disorders can happen when working the night shift. Third objective is to discuss what the disorders are and how they affect the body when working the night shift.

Reproductive systems can be affected when working the night shift. Fourth and the last objective is to discuss what are the effects on the reproductive system and how they are affected when working the night shift.

Circadian Rhythm

Regular variations in the environment, for example alteration of night and day, influence a daily cycle of 24-hour period based biological activity. This cycle is called circadian rhythm. Differentiation and tissue growth in fungi, in angiosperms the closing and opening of flowers, walking and sleeping in animals are included in circadian rhythm. The cues in an organism's environment such as light-dark cycles synchronize an internal clock that generates the circadian rhythm in human beings. This is the reason that without an alarm clock, a human being wakes up at the same time every day. Changes in daily schedule can disrupt the circadian rhythms. Instead of spring, birds are observed to make nests in falls when they are exposed to artificial light for a long time. Release of hormones is known to be commonly controlling the circadian rhythms but investigation is still going on for its process. In retina, photoreceptors receive information to which pineal gland ...