Here are three health tips to follow if you are working the graveyard shift.
We
are wired to rise with the sun and sleep beneath the moon. Following
natural sleep patterns help us stay healthy. The invention of
electricity gave us artificial day at night. We extended our work hours.
Has progress negatively impacted our health by turning our internal
clock upside down? Questions surrounding the consequences of disrupted
sleep patterns may have finally been answered.
A
newly published Danish study set up a case-control group from more than
15,500 women who had been in the Danish military. Of those, 141 with
breast cancer and 551 without filled in a 28-page questionnaire on work
and lifestyle. But the analysis was only based on 132 cases and 505
controls.
The
study also stated that women working three nights a week were at a 40%
higher risk of getting breast cancer than women who did not. That number
doubled to 80% if they worked 6 nights a week.
Rachel Crowson of American Radio News Network called me at home to comment on air about this breaking news.
RC:
“Kathleen, you are a three-time breast cancer survivor who wrote the
book, Surviving Cancerland: The Intuitive Aspects of Healing. Would you
please comment on this new finding?”
K:
“It brings to light the health challenges of daytime vs nighttime
workers when the obvious difference is natural light. Sunlight and
darkness at the appropriate time is important to humans. The hormone
melatonin is produced in the body during sleep cycles and regulates wake
cycles. It is also a calming agent. Night shift workers may lack
adequate amounts of it because the synthesis and release of melatonin
are stimulated by darkness. Night workers are exposed to long hours of
florescent light which inhibits melatonin production, and the room they
sleep in during the day may not be dark enough to stimulate it either.
Another consideration is the lack of cancer fighting vitamin D due to
daytime sleep patterns. Scientific study has linked vitamin D deficiency
to cancer.”
RC: “Kathleen, your story is pretty profound. Would you please share it with us?”
K:
“I’m a three-time stage-four breast cancer survivor. What makes my
story unique is that I used my female intuitive abilities through dreams
to diagnose myself after doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute
told me I was healthy. I actually forced them into two operations they
originally refused to perform where my true condition was revealed.”
RC: “How did you get doctors to listen to your dreams?”
K:
“I didn’t. My healing journey was a double blind study between
conventional medical tests and Intuitive dreams. It is a story of faith,
intuitive ability, and contact with a Higher Order that gave me the
strength to ignore the weight of incorrect medical opinion and the
statistical survival chances to survive. I always worked with my
conventional doctors, but never forgot to make the final decisions. I
think it is important to point out that my dreams told me to go back to
my doctors rather than looking for Swami-wami Ramalama-ding-dong. My
dreams had faith in my doctors.
RC: How does your story fit into this new study?”
K:
“Listen to your body. Deficiencies that lead to illness will make
themselves known with signs, signals and symptoms. Our bodies have been
speaking to us since the beginning of time. Believe in your Inner
guidance.”
RC: “What do you see as a solution to this study? Is there an answer?”
K:
“As long as two paychecks are required in homes to make ends meet, and
there is a need for round-the-clock health care, there will be night
shift workers and increased stress levels. Until more research is done
on this information:
1.)
I suggest taking vitamin D and melatonin supplements before bed.
Melatonin can also help you get that much needed sleep after a long
night of work and
2.) vitamin D will help put back some sunshine into your life.
3.) Listen to your body. It also speaks to us through dreams."
According to WebMD and the Mayo Clinic, the hormone melatonin is produced in the brain by the pineal gland.
Lisa
Wilde, director of research at Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “Night
shift working and breast cancer risk is a hugely complex area and two of
the biggest risk factors – diet and physical activity outside of
working hours – weren’t considered in this study.”
It
would be paradise to work substantial week-day nine-to-five jobs. The
reality is our economic challenges have put many families in financial
crisis. Unable to afford child care, one parent works day shifts while
the other stays home with the children. At night those roles are
reversed. Many mothers work the graveyard-shifts in caregiver facilities
like hospitals. It pays time and a half.
Coupled with financial problems, working night shift jobs can cause profound stress. Stress is a proven killer and is cited as one of the reasons for an increase in cancer.
Until
we can all have the ideal life, job opportunities and work environment,
do your body a favor; don’t put it in an early grave. Fortify it with
supplements and exercise, empower it with love, and listen to it. You
chose it for this lifetime. Don’t wear it out before its time. Meditate,
count your blessings, and thank your Higher Power for guidance.
About
the author: Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos is a repped author, Radio Host,
Q&A cancer columnist for Cape Women Online Magazine, & R.A.
BLOCH Cancer Foundation Hotline Counselor, Patheos blogger,
BreastCancerYoga and Om Times contributor, Follow her on her social sites from her website @ www.survivingcancerland.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/28/night-shift-raises-cancer-risk-study http://www.americasradionewsnetwork.com/
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