Working at night breaks down the brain biological clock

(Scientists have shown that working at night a forced force can affect the brain's biological clock in a manner similar to Alzheimer's disease.

Everyone knows that working at night has a negative impact on health and more and more evidence proves that it is given.

The system for regulating day and night rhythm in mammals regulates the rhythm of every activity and rest during the day and night. Interrupting this cycle causes a physiological imbalance, and can lead to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes in humans.

But until now, very few people know how night work changes the overall biological clock of the brain.

Simulate night work

To test the effects of night work, researchers let mice simulate human nighttime activity for a week. 7 mice worked all night, while 12 others only worked during the day. Both groups work 5 days a week and also on weekends, they work hard for 5 weeks in a row.

Researchers have simulated human work by placing mice running on slow wheels, to keep them always alert and active, but not making them overwork. After work shifts, researchers track mouse activity with motion sensors to check for anything unusual.

Within 2 weeks, the night working mice significantly increased the workload but their post-work activities decreased. Their level of activity is also more erratic, fluctuating unstable from high to low. Meanwhile, the mice working in a normal week did not change their behavior. Moreover, the last 2 days of the week are not enough to recover due to behavioral changes originating from night work.

Researchers have identified, changes occur in the rat brain's biological clock by measuring the level of post-work activity . The broken biological clock demonstrates that the behavior of mice and other animals disrupts the brain . Similar to humans, the symptoms that occur in rats derive from the biological clock dysfunction as well as the symptoms of a person diagnosed with dementia.

Some limitations and consequences

Researchers have shown that mice work at night, while people are busy all day, and the effects that nighttime work can be very different. Moreover, the change in mouse activity may also stem from stress when moving from one cage to another, but researchers think this is not possible.

These findings indicate that monitoring workers' nighttime levels is an effective way to predict negative impacts from their non-fixed work schedules on health. Unfortunately, night work is a reality for many people - so working so that you can minimize health risks will help us sleep better.