Working night shifts ups risk of obesity, says study

Researchers suggest modifying working schedules to avoid prolonged exposure to long-term night shifts might help reduce risk of obesity.

Washington DC: You may want to avoid doing those overnight shifts, as working in late night shifts is linked to 29 percent increase in risk of becoming obese or overweight, warns a study.

The results suggested that night shift workers had a higher frequency of developing abdominal obesity than other obesity types. Permanent night workers demonstrated a higher risk than rotating shift workers.

Researchers suggested that modifying working schedules to avoid prolonged exposure to long-term night shift work might help reduce the risk of obesity.

The findings, from the 28 published studies, suggested that night shift work was associated with a 29 percent increased risk of becoming obese or overweight.

Senior study author Dr Lap Ah Tse said that globally, nearly 0.7 billion workers are engaged in a shift work pattern.

The study revealed that much of the obesity and overweight among shift workers is attributable to such a job nature.

Obesity has been evident to be positively associated with several adverse health outcomes, such as breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases.

The research appears in Obesity Reviews journal.