How harmful is sleep disturbance to people?

Sleep comes at night. Sleep usually relieves our tiredness. However, this is different for those who work in night shifts. While others are asleep, their bodies are awake and busy working. This sleep disturbance affects their body a lot. As most of them suffer from weight gain, cancer, diabetes, depression and heart failure.

Normal people have a certain pattern of waking and sleeping during the 24 hours a day and night. Which is called circadian rhythm.

People who work from 9 to 5 in the morning work in daylight. This keeps their circadian rhythms the same. On the other hand, this circadian rhythm is disrupted in shift workers.

Zhou of Harvard Medical said,

"They're not just working against their bodies. They're working against the rhythms of the universe."

Sleep disturbance affects a person's eating schedule as well as health. Research shows that when an animal's sleep or wake cycle does not coincide with day or night, it changes its appetite.

A group of scientists from the University of Bristol conducted an experiment on the circadian rhythm of mice. As a result they see a change in eating habits. The researchers disrupted the circadian rhythms of mice. To do this, they use a type of hormone called corticosterone through light-dark cycles.

Corticosterone acts similarly in other animals and humans. It is a glucocorticoid hormone. which activates shortly before awakening and slowly shuts down during daylight hours.

This premature rise in corticosterone in rats disrupted their normal rhythms. For example, rats receiving corticosterone, in-sync animals, and a control group of rats that received no infusion—were all fed the same amount of food each day. But it turns out that rats given extra hormones ate about half of their daily food while resting.

However, this altered timing was not associated with their weight gain. But it was very different from their normal eating patterns – which the researchers found was the result of their appetite-regulating genes acting out of time.

Mice with these abnormal corticosterone levels show a difference in the function of some genes. That is, the genes in these mice that make proteins to stimulate appetite become highly active, which are normally off.

Neuroscientist Stafford Lightman of the University of Bristol said,

"When we disrupt the normal relationship of corticosterone to the day-night light cycle, it results in abnormal gene regulation and appetite."

How do shift workers manage their lives?

"Allow enough time to sleep during the holidays. This is usually harder said than done. Because you will want to spend the holidays with your family and friends. But during this period, you must allow extra time for sleep," said Zhou.

Also try to gradually reduce the amount of time you spend working hard shifts. Find practical solutions. Which will help you get more adequate sleep. People employed in shift work usually have responsibilities to their families in addition to work.

However, as much as possible one should try to adapt to the circadian rhythm by changing the abnormal work schedule.

Afia Zahan Noshin/ Own Correspondent

Source: Science Alert, Harvard Health