Sleep/Health/life
Working at Night Is Not Ideal for Your Health Research Shows
We haven’t evolved to be nocturnal
Do you always work or study at night? Do you often spend time outside at midnight? Do you stay up late playing video games?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the aforementioned questions, unfortunately, you might be one of the large groups of people who stay up late.
Our societies are very competitive, and we have a lot of things to figure out in 24 hours. We have to work, study, do domestic work and circumvent other predicaments. And because of the sheer competition and responsibilities, 24 hours doesn’t seem to suffice us.
Most of the time, we live life like we have evolved to be nocturnal, but the fact that our eyes don’t have night vision capabilities like owls, simply answers the question that we haven’t evolved to be nocturnal.
At first, staying up late badly impacts our physical health. It imparts negative effects on our hormones, growth, and ageing process.
The adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) of the pituitary gland controls the synthesis of cortisol and aldosterone. And in turn, The synthesis of adrenocorticotropic hormone is managed by a peptide substance — corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) — synthesized by the hypothalamus.
And research shows that our hypothalamus exhibits a diurnal pattern for the secretion of CRF. It secretes relatively low levels at night and a lot in the early morning hours before we wake up. This pattern is also the same in the production of adrenocorticotropic hormone, aldosterone, and cortisol.
These substances are vital for the growth and wellbeing of the human body. They determine our growth when we are young and slow down ageing when we are old.
And by staying up late you gravely impact the secretion of these substances. For example, by staying up late, your body will produce less cortisol, and you are more likely to develop inflammatory diseases.
Research conducted on mice in 2013 found that one of the key cells involved in preventing viruses and disease is controlled by our cycles of light and dark. When the researchers changed the natural cycles of the mice — shifting their light/dark exposure by several hours every few days for several weeks — the mice were more likely to develop inflammatory diseases than the ones who continued with their normal light/dark cycles.
Research also shows that individuals who stay up late and work during the evening tend to have higher blood sugar than “early birds’’. A study also indicates that people who stay up late tend to binge more on unhealthy and fatty foods
Staying up late can also negatively impact our psychological health. Assume that you are going to give your exam at the university tomorrow. You stay up all night like an Owl and prepare for the exam. The next morning you wake up debilitated with a headache. You go to the University to give your exams and after finishing, you feel even more worn-out than before. Albeit, you have to prepare for the next exam, and you stay up late again — the loop keeps ongoing till you hit the point of extreme stress and disorderliness, which might lead you to depression.
A new study from the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Orlando exactly proves the above-mentioned point.
If your circadian rhythm is all over the place, you need to reconsider it. Because since time immemorial, we have worked during the day and slept during the night.
Our bodies and brains have evolved for functioning during the day. Even when we were insignificant arboreal apes, we were still diurnal.
So in conclusion, you can logically assume (without any research)that doing the opposite can have negative or antithetical effects on your health and well-being.
Here are some articles that you can read if you are looking for some tips to change your bad circadian rhythm: Sleep tips: 6 steps to better sleep — Mayo Clinic/ How to Sleep Better — Sleep Foundation/ How to Sleep Better — HelpGuide.org.
