Working the night shift might deprive you of more than just your sleep

Working the night shift might deprive you of more than just your sleep

SHIFT WORK RAISES the risk of having a heart attack or stroke, research suggests.

An analysis of 34 studies involving more than two million workers in the British Medical Journal found that shift work can disrupt the body clock and have an adverse effect on peoples’ lifestyle.

The study by a team of researchers in Canada and Norway found that working irregular hours increases the risk of heart attack by 23 per cent and stroke by 5 per cent.

Limiting night shifts could help workers cope, the research said, as it was associated with the sharpest increase in risk-41 per cent-for major vascular problems.

20 per cent of Irish workers do shift work, according to the Central Statistics Office’s Quarterly National Household Survey.