Brain Drain

Talking about a bunch of shift work
A big ol' pile of shift work
Seven to three
Three to eleven
Eleven to seven

                        From “Shift Work”, Kenny Chesney

So, we already knew that working shifts leads to increased chance of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and reproductive dysfunction.  We can now add shrinking brains to that delightful list.

An article this month in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reveals that a study showed that working shifts leads to cognitive impairment.  The authors don’t specify what kind of shift, but the assumption can be made that it’s “off shifts”, nights and evenings, as it is attributed to circadian rhythm disruption. 

Goodie!  It’s not just nurses’ bodies but also their minds that go bad from doing nights.