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In modern society, night shift work that lasts from midnight to 5 am is considered the most common type of work and can lead to increased waist circumference in both sexes. So, what is the real cause and solution to this problem?
1. How does night shift work cause weight gain?
Statistics aimed at assessing the health impact of employees who work shifts with alternate day and night schedules or overnight shifts. This is a popular working model in the world with many different labor professions. According to the results of the review, working the regular night shift appeared to increase the risk of being obese or overweight by up to 29%. In addition, abdominal obesity was found to increase by 35% in those who regularly worked at night. This is an alarm bell for the possibility of metabolic syndrome including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglyceride levels. It also increases the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
On the other hand, people who work the night shift have to adjust their sleep time to suit their night work and most think they don't get enough sleep.
2. Causes of increased waist circumference in night shift jobs
When working the night shift, the hormones related to hunger and fullness are disturbed, which changes eating habits and metabolism, making you tend to eat more than you normally need.
When working in a state of stress, the hormone cortisol is secreted a lot so that glucose is released into the blood to help nourish the brain to work. The side effect of this hormone is weight gain and in the long run leads to obesity. In addition, it also stimulates appetite, so many people will relieve stress by eating more than usual.
When the body lacks sleep, it will create cravings and many people will choose to eat fast foods, rich in fat and carbohydrates. They are high in unhealthy fats and sugars. This will increase your appetite even more and you may eat more than you normally need. Therefore, for those who are trying to lose weight, working the night shift or staying up late will be a deterrent to this intention.
Làm đêm sẽ làm tăng nhu cầu ăn uống hơn bình thường.
3. How does night shift work affect health?
In addition to the effects on your weight and waist circumference, staying up late at work also causes a number of adverse effects on the body such as:
Working at night will affect the body's natural circadian rhythms. and create disturbances to mental functioning such as fatigue, impatience and lack of mental and physical concentration the next day. If this condition persists, it can lead to difficulty sleeping or severe insomnia. Working the regular night shift will take a huge toll on your mental health. The brain will fall into a state of fog that makes it difficult to concentrate and unable to think clearly. This leads to drowsiness and possible oversleeping while working and this is one of the causes of occupational accidents that endanger the health and life of you and those around you. When the body is too tired, the hypothalamus of the brain will work and stimulate cravings as a "salvage" solution to solve this condition. It will make you eat non-stop. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, night shift workers are more likely to snack at night with high-carb snacks even though they didn't have this habit before. Long-term sleep-deprived night shifts can affect your overall health and put you at risk for serious conditions like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes.
4. What should be done to limit weight gain when working night shift?
Night shifts challenge workers' access to nutritious food and regular exercise. The solution given is to bring food to work to avoid using fast food during your working time. In addition, being more physically active in your working day helps you relieve stress, relax joints and limit weight gain due to sitting for a long time.
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Reference articles: webmd.com, nbci.nlm.nih.gov
