“Shift workers getting too little sleep at the wrong time of day may be increasing their risk of diabetes and obesity, according to researchers.” James Gallagher of BBC News says in his article on shift workers calling for more measures to be taken in order to reduce the consequence of them ensuing the results of the study.
The study consisted of 21 people, who gave over complete control to the researchers including their meals and bedtimes. The study was to immolate shift workers who work late at night. Participants were monitored with a night of 10hours of sleep, like the average person. Then they changed the conditions to make a 28-hour day, and as Gallagher puts it “creating an effect similar to a full-time flyer constantly getting jet lag.” Changes also included living in dim-lighting and only 5.6 hours of sleep. Changes in the sugar levels were immediate and slowly followed by weight gain. Lead researcher, Dr. Orfeu Buxton wrote: “We think these results support the findings from studies showing that, in people with a pre-diabetic condition, shift workers who stay awake at night are much more likely to progress to full-on diabetes than day workers. Since night workers often have a hard time sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian [body clock] disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day. The evidence is clear that getting enough sleep is important for health, and that sleep should be at night for best effect." The Science Translational Medicine journal hosted the results to the experiment, showing that changes in normal sleep makes the body struggle to control its sugar levels – thus the developing of early symptoms of diabetes.
The study mainly was completed just to print results, no actions have been made by the researchers or related health agencies it attempt to solve the problem, or better help the development of Diabetes in these working conditions. These laboratory settings and conditions do not function the exact same as real working environments. Without truly testing the results of actual late-night-shift workers, the study cannot truly be seen as being accurate in its results, along with the fact that the study only involved 21 people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17680882
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