NIGHT WORK IMPACT ON HEALTH

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NIGHT WORK IMPACT ON HEALTH




Just a few days on a night shift schedule can throw off protein rhythms related to blood glucose regulation, energy metabolism, and inflammation, processes that can influence the development of chronic metabolic conditions.

The finding from a study led by scientists at Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory provides new clues as to why night shift workers are more prone to diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders.

"There are processes tied to the master biological clock in our brain that are saying that day is day and night is night and other processes that follow rhythms set elsewhere in the body that say night is day and day is night," said senior study author Hans Van Dongen, a professor in the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. "When internal rhythms are dysregulated, you have this enduring stress in your system that we believe has long-term health consequences."

Though more research is needed, Van Dongen said the study shows that these disrupted rhythms can be seen in as little as three days, which suggests early intervention to prevent diabetes and obesity is possible. Such intervention could also help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, which is elevated in night shift workers as well.

Published in the Journal of Proteome Research, the study involved a controlled laboratory experiment with volunteers on three-day simulated night or day shift schedules. Following their last shift, participants were kept awake for 24 hours under constant lighting, temperature, posture, and food intake to measure their internal biological rhythms without interference from outside influences.

Blood samples drawn at regular intervals throughout the 24 hours were analyzed to identify proteins in blood-based immune system cells. Some proteins had rhythms closely tied to the master biological clock, which keeps the body on a 24-hour rhythm. The master clock is resilient to altered shift schedules, so these protein rhythms didn't change much in response to the night shift schedule.

However, most other proteins had rhythms that changed substantially in night-shift participants compared to the day-shift participants.

Looking more closely at proteins involved in glucose regulation, the researchers observed a nearly complete reversal of glucose rhythms in night-shift participants. They also found that insulin production and sensitivity processes, which generally work together to keep glucose levels within a healthy range, were no longer synchronized in night-shift participants. The researchers said this effect could be caused by insulin regulation trying to undo the glucose changes triggered by the night shift schedule. They said this may be a healthy response, as altered glucose levels may damage cells and organs, but it could be problematic in the long run.

"What we showed is that we can see a difference in molecular patterns between volunteers with normal schedules and those with schedules that are misaligned with their biological clock," said Jason McDermott, a computational scientist with PNNL's Biological Sciences Division. The effects of this misalignment had not yet been characterized at this molecular level and in this controlled manner."

The researchers' next step will be to study real-world workers to determine whether night shifts cause similar protein changes in long-term shift workers.


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