Working an unusual schedule affects your health in the long run!

Medical workers, blue-collar workers, service personnel… there are many professions where the work schedule does not correspond to the classic 9:00–17:00. Yes, but here it is: exceeding this limit will not be without health consequences in the long run!

It is known that atypical work hours, that is, outside the traditional 9 am to 5 pm schedule, can have a negative impact on workers’ physical and mental health, as well as their social and family life. But the present study takes a longer perspective than previous studies on the subject.

Its author, Wen-Jui Han of New York University, relied on data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which followed more than 7,000 Americans over thirty years. He wanted to determine whether the practice of atypical work hours early in a professional career had harmful consequences decades later when a person reached fifty.

It turned out that most of the study participants worked more or less regularly according to a standard work schedule. Conversely, 17% worked 9am to 5pm in their twenties before switching to a rotating schedule (evenings, nights, etc.). About 12% had a similar employment structure: they started their careers working a traditional work schedule and then became more flexible in organizing their work hours.

Wen-Jui Han found that workers who worked atypical hours during their professional lives had more health problems at age fifty than those who worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They were more likely to imagine symptoms At the age of 50 he was depressed and had problems sleeping.