“Decision Regret” Higher in Tired Nurses
Analysis of data from a careful survey of critical care nurses found those who are fatigued, lose sleep, and have difficulty recovering between shifts are more likely to report "decision regret" (lack of confidence in decisions made) compared to rested nurses. This was highest among those who work 12 hour shifts. Inadequate sleep increases the risk…
Read MoreShift Work May Raise Risks for Ovarian Cancer
Women whose work requires them to work nights are at increased risk for ovarian cancer according to a large case-control study. If they reported ever having worked nights their risk of invasive epithelial cell ovarian cancer increased by almost 25%. These risks were limited to women over 50 years old. Shift work disrupts circadian rhythms…
Read MoreShift Work Raises Heart Attack and Stroke Risk
Shift work (defined as any work schedule outside of approximately 9:00-17:00 hours) has been found in a meta-analysis of 34 observational studies to significantly increase the risk of heart attacks and ishemic stroke. Smoking and socioeconomic factors did not alter the results. The increase in risk ranged from 5% for stroke to almost 25% for…
Read MoreOfficer, Did You Have a Good Sleep Last Night?
About 40% of almost 5000 police officers in the U.S. and Canada screened positive for at leat one sleep disorder, the most common being obstructive sleep apnea (33.6%). Those with a sleep disorder were more likely to make adminstrative errors, not show up for work, fall asleep while driving, and to lash out at suspects.…
Read MoreFatigue Impacts Healthcare Provider Quality of Work
Do you perform at your best when you are sleep deprived? None of us do, including our healthcare providers, according to a sentinel event alert from the Joint Commission. When residents work recurring 24 hours shifts, there were 36% more adverse events than when they worked only 16 hours at a time. They also made…
Read MoreShift Work and Diabetes Risk
Women who worked at least three night shifts per month (in addition to days and evenings in the same month) for 20 or more years experienced a 58% increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes compared with those who did not rotate shifts. Those who had less than 10 years of rotating shifit work experienced a…
Read MoreYoung Shift Workers May Have Higher Risk of CVD
Shift workers younger than 40 years of age were found to have significantly higher levels of cortisol ("stress" hormone) compared to their day worker counterparts. This small Dutch study also found that shift workers weighed significantly more. These observations could place them at higher risk of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.PositiveTip: The lack of regularity…
Read More