Young adults who work atypical hours could see poor health by the time they turn 50: Study
New Delhi, April 4
Young adults following atypical work routines outside the everyday nine-to-five could negatively impact their physical and mental health in mid-life, new research has found.
Analysing data on more than 7,000 people in the US collected over 30 years, researchers observed disrupted sleep patterns in people whose careers involved more volatile work schedules.
These people were more likely to report depressive symptoms at the age of 50, compared to individuals who worked during the traditional daytime hours over their entire career, according to Wen-Jui Han from New York University, US, and the author of the study published in the journal PLoS One.
The author explained that volatile work schedules are associated with poor sleep, physical fatigue, and emotional exhaustion, that can make people vulnerable to unhealthy lives.
Han’s study found the most striking results in those working stable hours in their 20s and then transitioning to more volatile routines in their 30s.
“Work that is supposed to bring resources to help us sustain a decent life has now become a vulnerability to a healthy life due to the increasing precarity in our work arrangements in this increasingly unequal society,” said Han.
The study also took into account race- and gender-related trends. For example, socially vulnerable Black Americans were more likely to have volatile work schedules associated with poorer health, highlighting that some groups may disproportionately shoulder the adverse consequences of such employment patterns, according to Han.
People with vulnerable social positions such as women, Blacks and those with low levels of education disproportionately shoulder these health consequences, said Han.
The findings also suggested that the effects of one’s work schedules, both positive and negative, can accumulate over one’s lifetime, thereby highlighting how employment patterns can contribute to health inequities, the author pointed out.
