Posted on 10/18/2011 7:19:02 AM PDT by decimon
Circadian disruption and sleep restriction contributing factors
Researchers from Sweden have uncovered an association between shift work and increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). Those who engage in off-hour employment before the age of 20 may be at risk for MS due to a disruption in their circadian rhythm and sleep pattern. Findings of this novel study appear today in Annals of Neurology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.
Previous research has determined that shift work—working during the night or rotating working hours—increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, thyroid disorders, and cancer. Circadian disruption and sleep restriction are associated with working night shifts; these factors are believed to disturb melatonin secretion and increase inflammatory responses, promoting disease states. MS is a central nervous system autoimmune inflammatory disorder that has an important environmental component, thus investigating lifestyle risk factors, such as sleep loss related to shift work, is an important objective and the focus of the current study.
Dr. Anna Karin Hedström and colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm analyzed data from two population-based studies—one with 1343 incident cases of MS and 2900 controls and another with 5129 prevalent MS cases and 4509 controls. The team compared the occurrence of MS among study subjects exposed to shift work at various ages against those who had never been exposed. All study subjects resided in Sweden and were between the ages of 16 and 70. Shift work was defined as permanent or alternating working hours between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Ping
Might this be a factor in increased MS in northern latitudes?
I have a male cousin in law who was diagnosed with MS at age 38. He started working rotating shift work (for the fire department) right around 18 or 19. Makes me wonder now if that didn’t have something to do with it or if MS is strictly genetic?
I heard that the Labor dept and Obama are working on a plan to make all American non-Muslim kids work nite shifts. It’s in his job plan. Now I understand why.
I wonder what happens to the minds of youngsters who stay up all night playing video games. OWS would make a good test group.
PacMan was the start!
;-)
I wonder what happens to the minds of youngsters who stay up all night playing video games. OWS would make a good test group.
Minds? Look in their eyes.. The engine is running but there is no one behind the wheel.
Years back, I remember something about geographic clusters. The industrial and manufacturing ‘north’, may be pertinent.
Lots of the kids in my engineering classes are video game junkies. They are pretty damn smart.
I was talking about the OWS “kids”.
My bad, I apologize.
I worked the graveyard shift in the summers for 3 years before I was 21. 55 years later, so far, so good. At least I no longer wake up at 3AM ready for breakfast.
Not good.My hubby started shift work at 19....
Could be.
The further north, the greater the day/night seasonal shift. There's less of a seasonal difference in the length of daylight as you go south. Seems to me that that could affect the circadian rhythm.
Could be.
The further north, the greater the day/night seasonal shift. There's less of a seasonal difference in the length of daylight as you go south. Seems to me that that could affect the circadian rhythm.
Having done a lot of it during my teen years and into college, all I remember was second shift was the worst. Working 2-11 pm, you never get to see your friends and family except on the weekend. Third shift was actually better, but I never did it long enough to not feel weird going to bed at 8 am and sleeping through most of the day.
I used to work 4:30 PM to 12:30 AM. When I started my days off were Tuesday-Wednesday. After a few years I worked up to Friday-Saturday. It's a different world.
eight years ago my son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He also has Celiac disease, IBS and a primary immune-deficiency.
The missing antibodies make him susceptible to a host of illnesses.
The constant illnesses, combined with the irregular bowel absorption, made his blood sugars very erratic. (Add to that teenage hormones and he was a mess) For five years, there was no rhyme or reason to his blood sugar highs and lows. The only way to keep him somewhat stable was hourly bloodsugar tests and corrections.
He was just a kid. Hubby worked. That meant that I had to pull off 24 hour nursing for six straight years without a break.
I found that I could get by for up to 3 weeks on 2-3 hours of sleep a night before the hallucinations kicked in. (I’d go to bed at 3:30AM - usually didn’t fall asleep right away. Hubby would get up at 5AM and check him. Then I’d have to get up by 6 or 6:30AM to start my day.) At that point, I’d have my husband take over my son’s care for a full weekend and I’d crash hard.
After 5 years of this, I am seriously screwed up. My memory still hasn’t recovered. My attention span is much shorter than it used to be. I have a low-level anxiety that never goes away. After two years, I’m slowly seeing improvements (at least I can sleep through the night now) and I hope things keep getting better. My thyroid stopped working for a time, but now it’s working again and I’m off thyroid medication. My PCOS and pre-diabetes (both metabolic disorders) have reversed - but I think that that has more to do with the changes in my eating habits.
But my brain is still sluggish. I can’t read or think if there’s ANY distracting sounds. It’s almost like a low-level autism. I have no filters. I know my tinnitus is somehow related to the years of sleep deprivation. I have no sense of ‘time’ or direction and can no longer judge distance. My reaction time is crap now.
A sleep study showed that my REM is still screwed up. A normal person goes into REM about an hour and a half to two hours after falling asleep. I go into REM within 10-15 minutes and stay in REM much longer than normal.
Honestly, I think that sleep deprivation is akin to torture. I’m very afraid that I’m permanently screwed up from this. I used to have an IQ of 140, straight A college student, read a book a day, could remember where everything was... it’s all gone now. I’ve worked rotating shifts and known many people who do and every person agrees that they’d rather work straight graves than never have an opportunity for their bodies to adjust to a schedule.
Have you applied for SS disability for your son? He may well be eligible for some benefits that would help with home care or nursing and allow you to get some rest and recoup. Prayers up.
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