Working night shifts for just three days can disrupt protein rhythms, increase the risk of diabetes, a recent study has revealed.
Quoted from Medical Daily, Sunday, researchers from Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory explored how night shift workers are more vulnerable to metabolic disorders, including diabetes and obesity.
According to the results published in the Journal of Proteome Research, even just a few days of working on a night shift schedule disrupts the rhythms of proteins related to blood glucose regulation, energy metabolism, and inflammation, processes that can affect the development of chronic metabolic conditions.
The researchers recruited volunteers who were kept on simulated night or day shift schedules for three days. The participants then stayed awake for 24 hours after their last shift under constant lighting, temperature, body position, and food intake. This was to measure their internal biological rhythms without external influences.
While the participants stayed awake, blood samples were taken to identify proteins in blood-based immune system cells. Some of these proteins are closely related to the main biological clock. Because the main biological clock that keeps the body on a 24-hour rhythm is resistant to altered shift schedules, there were no significant changes for these proteins.
However, for most other types of proteins, such as those involved in glucose regulation, there were significant changes in rhythms among night shift participants compared to day shift participants.
The researchers noted that there was almost complete reversal in glucose rhythms for night shift participants. Night shift participants also lacked synchronization in the processes involved in insulin production and sensitivity. These processes should work together to maintain glucose levels within a healthy range.
This is caused by insulin regulation trying to counteract the glucose changes triggered by night shift schedules, which may be a healthy response at the time but problematic in the long run, the researchers said.
“There are processes related to the main biological clock in our brains that say 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. When internal rhythms are irregular, you have ongoing stress in your system that we believe has long-term health consequences,” said study senior author Hans Van Dongen from WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in a press release.
These findings suggest that early interventions can prevent diabetes and obesity, which can also be applied to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke in night shift workers.
Translator: Putri Hanifa
Editor: Siti Zulaikha
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