The hours you work earlier in life may be associated with worse health years later, according to a study published April 3, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Wen-Jui Han from New York University.

Studies have consistently shown that nonstandard work schedules — working outside the traditional nine-to-five workday — can negatively impact physical and mental health as well as social and family life. The current study uses a life-course approach to provide a longer-term perspective on how work schedule patterns throughout a person’s working life impact their health in middle age.

Han used data from The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (NLSY79), which includes data on more than 7,000 people in the US over 30 years, to see whether employment patterns in younger adulthood were associated with sleep, physical health, and mental health at age 50.

Han found that around a quarter of participants (26%) worked stable standard hours, with a further third (35%) working mostly standard hours. 17 percent initially worked standard hours in their 20s, later transitioning into volatile working patterns — a combination of evening, night, and variable hours. 12 percent initially worked standard hours and then switched to variable hours. A final ten percent were mostly not working over this period.

Compared to individuals who mostly worked during traditional daytime hours throughout their working career, those whose careers featured more volatile work schedules slept less, had lower sleep quality, and were more likely to report depressive symptoms at age 50. The most striking results were seen in those who had stable work hours in their 20s and then transitioned to more volatile work hours in their 30s. This effect size was significant and similar to that of being educated only to below high school level.

Han also found racial and gender-related trends. For example, Black Americans were more likely to have volatile work schedules associated with poorer health, highlighting how some groups may disproportionately shoulder the adverse consequences of such employment patterns.

Han suggests that volatile work schedules are associated with poor sleep, physical fatigue, and emotional exhaustion, which may make us vulnerable to an unhealthy life. The study also suggests that positive and negative impacts of work schedules on health can accumulate over one’s lifetime while highlighting how employment patterns can contribute to health inequities.

Han adds: “Work that is supposed to bring resources to help us sustain a decent life has now become a vulnerability to a healthy life due to the increasing precarity in our work arrangements in this increasingly unequal society. People with vulnerable social positions (e.g., females, Blacks, low-education) disproportionately shoulder these health consequences.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Before you post, please prove you are sentient.

What is 9 * 6?

Explore More

How the coronavirus defeats the innate immune response

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has an enzyme that can counteract a cell’s innate defense mechanism against viruses, explaining why it is more infectious than the previous SARS and MERS-causing viruses.

Unnecessary isolation for mpox may be reduced by adopting testing-based protocols

Unnecessary isolation for mpox may be reduced by adopting testing-based protocols. Credit: Kyoko Kojima Mpox, a disease caused by the monkeypox virus, saw a significant increase in cases from mid-2022.

Supplemental Medicare benefits still leave dental, vision, and hearing care out of reach for many

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Lower-income adults with Medicare Advantage plans are more likely to have difficulty paying for dental, vision, and hearing services than higher-income beneficiaries—despite enrolling in plans that