Section 4 Questions 31-40
Complete the note below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. HEALTH ON THE NIGHT SHIFT Background:
• in number of night workers because of 31 ……………………….. 24-hour shopping/services
• Need to examine effects of changing work and sleep habits US and British research found these lead to health problems Main Causes: A) 32 …………………….
• regulates daily life
• connected to behavioral pattems and cycles of 33 …………………… and ……………………….
• programmes us to be awake and asleep at certain times B) Sleep Debt
• impossible to get enough sleep during daytir C) 34 …………………………
• different working/ sleeping times, ‘dislocation’ Effects: A) Physical
higher incidence of 35 ……………………….. problems and …………………………….. problems
• more minor illnesses, suggesting that immunity of shift workers is affected B) Psychological
• most common: 36 ……………………………… 37 affected, e.g. decision-making, planning, which regulate our 38 …………………………….. C) Social
Night shift work can lead to:
destruction of 39 ………………………. and other relationships, e.g. 40 ………………………………
• eventually, for individuals: social isolation
Key
health increase
Internal clock
Light dark
Unsocial hours
Heart stomach
Depression
Mental ability
Performance
Family life
friends
Transcript
Lecturer: Good afternoon everybody. In this session I want to continue looking at health issues relating to the workplace, and I’d like to focus today on night shift workers and the health problems that are associated with their working hours.
I’m sure you’re all aware that there has been a huge increase in the number of workers doing regular night shifts in recent years, mainly because
of the number of shops and services now open 24 hours, seven days a week. And we need to look more closely at the consequences of changing work and sleep patterns like this. So that’s what I’d like us to do today.
Three Main Reasons for Health Problems
Lecturer: Now research that has been carried out in both the US and Britain on night working, suggests that it leads to a lot of health problems for the workers and they point to three main reasons for this.
The Internal Clock (Circadian Rhythm): The first one is what they call the internal clock and this is a basic sort of program in our brains. This tells us that at certain times we should feel hungry, at other times we should be awake, at other times we should be asleep and so on. And it seems to be generally accepted by all the experts in the field that this clock is linked to not just our behavioral habits, but to cycles of light and dark and that means that we’re programmed to be awake when it’s light, i.e., during the day and asleep when it’s dark.
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Sleep Debt: The second thing is that night workers are continually fighting against what is termed a sleep debt, and by this the researchers mean that it’s just practically impossible for them to get a sufficient amount of sleep in daylight hours. In fact, studies suggest that on average night workers only get between five and six hours of sleep rather than the eight they need, and the effects of not getting enough sleep can also lead to all sorts of problems and we’ll talk about those in a minute.
Unsocial Hours: The third cause of these problems is the unsocial hours that night workers have to keep. The fact that they are working when their families, their friends are sleeping and vice versa, and that kind of dislocation from their social group can be very damaging.
Effects of Night Shift Work
Lecturer: Okay, so let’s take a closer look at some of these effects.
1. Physical Effects
Heart Problems: Studies on long-term shift workers found that they were much more likely to get heart problems than day workers.
Stomach Problems: There seems to be a very high incidence of stomach problems, for example, ulcers among night shift workers. Although this may be partly due to the wrong sort of diet (snacking on fast food), it can’t be just explained by eating habits.
Reduced Immunity: Night shift workers also get ill more frequently with minor problems like colds and infections. The frequency is much higher than among day workers, indicating that night working can damage immunity to illness.
2. Psychological Effects
Depression: The most common problem is depression. This seems to be the inevitable result of the constant feeling of tiredness and a lack of energy that night workers universally complain of.
Mental Abilities Affected: There is a lot of evidence from accident statistics to suggest that mental abilities are badly affected, including decision-making ability and planning ability. The highest number of errors on the roads occur between 3 a.m and 5 a.m, the point in our internal clock when we feel most sleepy.
3. Social Problems
Breakup of Family Life: The first one is obviously the breakup of family life. Divorce statistics show that this occurs more frequently in the case of night workers.
Breakdown of Peer Group Relationships: There’s also the breakdown of other relationships, not just within the family but among the peer group. Night workers tend to lose touch with friends, and these relationships are very difficult to rebuild, especially for long-term night workers.
Social Isolation: This eventually leads to social isolation for the individual, which has consequences for the whole community.
Lecturer: So we can begin to see the real cost of night working. What we need to do now is to look at how we’re going to do it…
