Shift work ‘ages our ability to think and remember’
A decade or more working rotating shifts was associated with a loss of brain function equivalent to 6.5 years of age-related cognitive decline, the research showed.
Stopping shift work led to gradual recovery — but one that took at least five years, said scientists.
Disruption of the body clock, which is based on natural day and night cycles, may cause stresses that may affect brain functioning, the researchers believe.
Other studies have linked vitamin D deficiency due to reduced exposure to sunlight to poorer mental ability. Writing in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the international team led by Dr Jean-Claude Marquie, from the University of Toulouse, France, concluded: “Shift work chronically impairs cognition, with potentially important safety consequences not only for the individuals concerned, but also for society.”
The scientists assessed more than 3,000 workers from southern France who had their mental abilities tested on three occasions over a 10-year period.
Participants were aged 32, 42, 52, and 62 at the time of the first test in 1996.
Around a fifth had worked a shift pattern that switched between mornings, afternoons, and nights.
Shift workers had lower average scores for memory, processing speed, and overall brain function than those working normal office hours. The scientists, said the problems increased with the length of time people worked shifts.
After 10 years of rotating shift work, the association became “highly significant”.
However people who stopped working shifts recovered their lost mental function after at least five years.
