Working Late Hours Could Lead to Lung and Prostate Cancer ...

Up working late last night?

As if you needed another reason to hate the night shift: According to researchers at the University of Quebec, people who log late hours on the job?shifts that include the hour from 1 to 2 a.m.?for 6 months are more than twice as likely to suffer from prostate and lung cancer than daytime workers.

The link between night shifts and cancer?seems to be based in your hormonal system, researchers say. Normally, your body secretes melatonin?a hormone vital to your sleep cycle?late at night. Melatonin makes your immune system more sensitive by increasing the number of messenger proteins it uses to spot threats. When you miss out on the late-night melatonin surge, your body has a harder time detecting and beating threats like cancer.

So what do you do if you?re stuck working the night shift? Pop 0.5 mg of melatonin 30 minutes before bed?no matter what time you hit the sack. It can help reset your hormonal cycle. A recent study in the journal Circadian Rhythms showed that late-night workers who were given a dose of melatonin before bed fell asleep 16 minutes earlier and reported sleeping better than when they were just given placebo pills. (Learn how else you can harness The Power of Melatonin.)

And don?t forget that what you do during the day also counts. A 2012 Swiss study found that the better illuminated your environment is during the day, the more melatonin you secrete?and as a result, the more soundly you sleep. A bright day makes the night seem darker, which signals your body that it?s time to amp up levels of melatonin, researchers say.

If you?re lacking light throughout your day, replace your bulbs with ones that emit cool, white light?look for 4100K on the label. They?ll brighten your room more naturally than standard incandescent bulbs.

Additional reporting by Laura Roberson

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Source: http://news.menshealth.com/beat-the-night-shift-blues/2012/10/23/

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