Hardcore, Die-Hard Night Shifters

 The Moon Out The Hospital Window On Night Shift

The October 6, 2008 Nursing Spectrum Magazine has a great fear
inducing headline. It reads: "Cancer Risk On The Night Shift" with
a white cup filled with coffee directly below the headline. The
coffee looks cold, which certainly would be true to life for those
who have to answer a call light the moment they pour that long
awaited steaming cup.

The headline is followed by these words: "Experts say it's too
early to panic."

Cancer risk; Panic; not exactly positive images for the grave yard
shift worker.

The words grave yard shift derive from two separate sources.

The first references the 19th century problem of burying people who
were still alive, but in a deep coma, perhaps. A bell was placed in
the coffin to enable the waking supposed corpse to notify the grave
yard attendants of their new-found life. Those attendants worked
the grave yard at night, thus earning a title we still enjoy to
this day.

The other story references the eery quiet that often settles over
the world between 3-am. This quiet may be likened to the hush of the grave yard
at night. Not to mention the feeling that creeps over the people who
must stay awake during these hours: an altered state, a strange lethargy
when sounds go rolling through your body with a thunderous pitch, acting
more like a drug than any legal or illegal drug on the black market.

But I digress.

The author of the article, Catherine Spader, RN, cites the most recent
scientific research to back up the questionable higher cancer rates for
those (of us) who work the grave yard shift.

Circadian rhythms are disturbed because artificial light exposure at night
suppresses Melatonin production in the Pineal gland in the brain during
periods of darkness.

Melatonin is considered to inhibit cancer growth and is produced at night
when people are sleeping.

Vitamin D deficiency is also found to be a factor in tumor formation due
to lack of sun exposure since night shift workers sleep during the day.

Then there is the reality of sleep deprivation that we, the die-hard
night shifters, endure and even adapt to. And a stable night shift schedule
is far preferable, as far as the body's ability to adapt, than a swing
shift schedule, studies show.

My own experience of working a day shift schedule defies the Vitamin D theory.
For instance, I used to work in the basement of a hospital delivering care
to the indigent. I remember working throughout the
winter months and entering our self-imposed dungeon in the dark, and finally
emerging from the bowels to go home, after the sun had set.

We all would try and get out at lunch, in fact, I forced my self to do so,
but the reality of sunshine was minimal, at best.

Now, in my present work situation, in Labor and Delivery, blinds are pulled
to protect the modesty of our patients, by their choice.

A perfect view of the sunrise can be enjoyed in what is called Nursery 2.
Our hospital is presently in the throes of a building expansion. Recently,
I admitted a baby to nursery 2 and noticed extensive construction out the
windows.

I said, " Oh no!! Don't tell me the beautiful sunrise will no longer be visible
out these windows."

And everyone there sadly nodded, "Yes."

This doesn't effect us on night shift because we happily leave the hospital to the
new day and into the rising sun.

I limit my night work to three days and recover the other four.

Day shift is not conducive to my schedule of writing, blogging and outdoor activities.

Nor is it conducive to my love of night and the great freedom from unsmiling administrators.

So given the fact I love the night shift, a day schedule would be disappointing and
depressing. Furthermore, I get more sunlight working nights than I would by working days.

The attitude I have about working days is more of a set up for cancer. The joy and
boundless feeling of freedom I derive from working nights is a prescription for good
health and a boosting of the immune system.

The article does not discuss a person's attitude toward the shift they work, as I have
just done.

Attitude and belief is at least as important as scientific explanations.

Catherine Spader states that melatonin supplementation is not recommended because
no one knows what the long term effects will be.

Other cancer prevention life style changes are wise to embrace such as eating healthy organic
foods, daily exercise, quitting smoking and getting regular physical exams.

If you hate night shift and buy into the negative beliefs and fears about working
nights, or you just feel unhealthy, then by all means, go on to working days.

And leave the grave yard silence of the night to those of us who love it.

Kate Loving Shenk

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Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator
of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover
Your Calling and Destiny." The book is designed to stimulate
nurses to love their work and to prevent on-the-job-burnout.
Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
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Comments

[HIRH]

What do you think of those light therapy kits for shift workers?

[kate loving shenk]

I probably would try using them, if I ever had to work days again, because it was always while working days when I was deprived of natural light eg 10 years of working in a basement and no available light most everywhere else I've ever seen.

Except after 10 years in the basement, we moved to a beautiful clinic with wall-to-wall windows, made to order because of the previous light deprivation.

Sadly, a healthcare corporation gradually put its mark on the way healthcare was delivered, and what was lost was a sense of family and community.

Irony is, I'd rather work in a basement with an aura of cohesiveness than work with light in a place that has lost its identity.

Sounds like another article/blog post!! LOL!!

[LymnTaina]

I have a question for you or anyone else who wants to address this: I know of several folks who have decided to stop contributing to their 401k’s and other retirement accounts and start putting that money towards paying down their mortgage. Right now I put $250/paycheck into my retirement fund, and yet my balance is less than it was six months ago. Is it smarter to just keep with the traditional wisdom of investing the same amount no matter how the market is going, or is a diversion into debt reduction a smart move? FYI I’m about 15 miles out from retirement.
What do you think?
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[kate loving shenk]

Hi There--I'll ask around to my more financial savvy friends and answer back!!

[verzekering zakelijk]

Nice informative blog I probably will try to use it soon.Thanks