Simple Schedule Changes Could Improve Shift
Worker Health
April 8, 2008
By Taunya English, Associate Editor
Health Behavior News Service
Simple work schedule adjustments might promote health and help shift workers
strike a better balance between work and personal life, according to a new
review of evidence.
Every workplace has its own definition of shift work, but it generally includes
nighttime employees as well as anyone who works outside the traditional 7 a.m.
to 6 p.m. workday.
Previous research has established that shift workers are vulnerable to certain
health and social problems including substance abuse, sleep disturbances,
absenteeism, injuries and accidents.
Many shift workers have frequently changing schedules. Instead of a permanent
night shift, for instance, some workers clock in — or log on — at night for
several days and then rotate to afternoons for several days. According to the
review, forward-rotating shifts that follow the logical order of the day seem to
be less damaging to health and easier on the body.
“A forward rotation would be a shift in the morning, then the afternoon and
then maybe a night shift later. That is less harmful to people’s health than
starting at night,” said lead review author Clare Bambra, a lecturer in the
Department of Geography at Durham University in England.
The systematic review, which examines the influence of company and
organizational-level changes on the health and well-being of shift workers,
appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The findings cull data from 26 — mostly small — studies of shift workers
around the world, including traffic controllers, autoworkers, police officers,
nurses and chemical plant employees.
The review also found that rotating workers through shift changes more quickly
— perhaps every three or four days versus every seven days — is better for
health and work-life balance.
As many countries move toward 24-hour societies, shift work is becoming more
common in the professional and service sectors. Still, shift work is still most
prevalent in lower- paying industries.
“Shift work tends to affect people of lower socioeconomic groups more often,
so it could be a factor in the health disparities that we see between groups,”
Bambra said.
Bambra’s team also found that giving employees more control over their
schedules resulted in some health improvement and better work-life balance.
“For these three interventions where most of the evidence was found on
work-life balance, it’s a less clear benefit for health,” Bambra said. “I
think employers may want to know these changes didn’t have big costs
associated with them and they were not particularly disruptive.”
Alec Davidson, who studies circadian rhythms in animals, said the study of
health promotion among shift workers is in very early stages. Most organizations
have yet to establish, much less adopt, best practices.
“I don’t think there are standards in place. If anything, I think there is a
huge amount of resistance,” he said.
“You’d think there would be motivation to fix these things. Substance abuse,
sickness and health — as well as the happiness of the workforce — are
bottom-line issues for companies if they could overcome these problems,” said
Davidson, an assistant professor with the Neuroscience Institute at Morehouse
School of Medicine in Atlanta.
The review finding on the less harmful effects of forward-rotating shifts
mirrors Davidson’s laboratory research, but he wants to see human studies with
much longer follow-up to understand bigger and longer-lasting health outcomes.
“Anything in moderation our bodies tend to tolerate, but abuse over the long
term — we just don’t know,” Davidson said.
# # #
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: Lisa Esposito at (202) 387-2829 or hbns-editor@cfah.org.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at
(858) 457-7292 or eAJPM@ucsd.edu.
Bambra C, et al. “Shifting schedules: the health effects of reorganizing shift
work.” Am J Prev Med 34(5), 2008.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Center for the Advancement of
Health
Health Behavior News Service
Contact: Lisa Esposito, Editor
202.387.2829
hbns-editor@cfah.org
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