Negative Effects Of Working At Night

‘…the human body and mind are meant to sleep at night and be active during the day-light. Some workers can adapt to working continually during the night but even among these certain health disorders are prominent’ (Kromer & Grandjean, 1997, p. 274). Despite this, increasing numbers of people are being asked to work at night. If one makes the switch to working only at night and sleeping by day then the body may acclimatize, just as it would if changing time zones. However, for many night work is an irregular feature of their occupational timetable with night shifts alternating with day. This is where the problem arise. Even so, the recently broadcast Irish documentary Leargas reported that an estimated 20% of the Irish workforce now work at
A British study by Barton (1994) examined the impact of choosing to work at night on individual tolerance to shift work. She had 587 participants, all nurses and midwives, and came to the conclusion that the results obtained offer support for the maintenance of permanent night-shift schedules and that has implications for the future design of shift systems. A Welsh study by Adeniran, Healy, Sharp, Williams et al. (1996) found, on the other hand, that there was some validity in a shift work model of affective disorders. They found that concentration, interest, energy, sleep and appetite were significantly disturbed during nightwork, and that there was an increased perception of recent criticism from
Therefore the task for human factor investigators, employers and psychologist is to be aware of the problems that can be caused by working at night, to find ways to compensate for these problems and difficulties as much as possible and to offer understanding and assistance to any night shift workers who seek help. There is much evidence that points to nightwork being a hazard to heath. However, it must be said that the hazardous effects, in terms of long term health of the individual, do not effect all night shift workers. Many of the hazards come from showed responses, calculation and concentration difficulties and occasional lowering of standards that one experiences while working when the body wants to sleep.

The effects that working at night an have on the system can be summed up by the findings of an Italian study carried out by Costa in 1996 in which it was concluded that shift work, particularly night work, can (1) disturb circadian rhythms of psychopsysiological functions, beginning with the spleen-wake cycle, (2) interfere with work performance and efficiency over 24 hour, with consequent errors and accidents, (3) strain family and social relationships, and (4) impair sleeping and eating habits and result in more severe disorders of the gastrointestinal, neuropsychic and cardiovascular