WHEN we talk about chronobiology it is often said that we are owls, accustomed to going to bed even after midnight and consequently waking up when the sun is already high, or larks, resting under the sheets in the early evening and waking up at dawn. But the biological rhythms of the organism are much more complex and are not limited to the company in the arms of Morpheus. And they must be respected, even in the workplace. Otherwise you risk putting your heart at risk. To say this, data in hand is a curious research conducted in Portugal presented at the congress Esc Preventive Cardiology 2021, of the European Society of Cardiology. According to the research, there is an association between alteration of individual biological rhythms linked to work and cardiovascular risk. Considering that on average, according to research, one in five employees in Europe works in less than classic hours or shifts, the issue must be taken into great consideration in terms of heart disease prevention, as recommended by the survey’s author, Sara Gamboa Madeira of the University of Lisbon.
Heart more at risk for those who fall asleep very late
The research involved about 300 workers (average age 33, 56% male) employed in warehouse distribution for a Lusitanian retail chain. The work was organized in three shifts in 24 hours, from morning to 6 until 15, from 15 to 24 and from 21 to 6. In all the people enrolled, in addition to personal and social data, information on the main factors was also collected cardiovascular risk such as the presence of hypertension and cholesterol values. Then we moved on to “measure” the chronotype of each participant in the study, in order to understand the rhythms of the subjective biological clock. The questionnaire was used for this purpose Munich ChronoType, also to define the eventual jet-lag social, hence the misalignment between an individual’s biological clock and working hours. Based on this parameter, the participants were divided into three groups: 2 hours or less of misalignment, 2-4 hours, 4 hours or more. Finally, cardiovascular risk scores were assessed by considering smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol. The relative risk ranged from 1 (non-smoker with normal blood pressure and cholesterol) to 12 (smoker with very high blood pressure and cholesterol). A relative risk of 3 or more was considered “high cardiovascular risk”. Among the participants, 20% were therefore defined as high-risk and nearly four out of ten slept six hours or less on weekdays. Social jet lag was 2 hours or less in nearly three out of five people, while for 33% of staff it was 2-4 hours and in 8% 4 hours or more. Result: with the increase in social jet lag, the possibility of being in cardiovascular risk groups has grown. The odds of being classified as high cardiovascular risk increased by 31% for each additional hour of social jet lag, even after adjusting socio-demographic, occupational, lifestyle and sleep characteristics, and body mass index. According to the author of the study, “the results suggest that staff with atypical working hours may need closer monitoring for heart health.” And perhaps, when defining work shifts, it would also be important to consider the chronotype of the individual worker. To avoid that the larks are forced to stay awake until late at night and that the owls are called to operate at dawn.
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