Heart attacks, diabetes, divorce: tackling the dangers facing Britain’s army of night workers

PMembers of Parliament and the House of Representatives will soon receive a survey with the question: “How do you sleep at night?” It’s not a brazen attempt to invade privacy; the aim is to encourage parliamentarians to clock their time asleep to raise awareness of the dangers faced by the growing army of night workers: the “forgotten service”.

In a 24-hour society, night work has increased dramatically, accelerated by the cost of living and childcare crisis. The night shift pays a premium, but can also punish people in some way no experience with day shifts. Night workers are 37% more likely than day workers have a heart attack44% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and 32% more likely to have a miscarriage, while obesity and memory loss are also factors.

In addition, night workers are six times more likely to be divorced than day workers. “I was a part-time worker in the house,” said one night worker.

The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour internal clock that regulates cycles of alertness and sleepiness by responding to slight changes in the environment that are essential for regulating the body’s energy levels and internal physiology. Sleeping during the day and working at night puts our biological clocks in constant battle.

Yet two-thirds of adults in a recent report from Liminal Space, a creative agency, said: “Anyone can get used to working shifts.” Research disagrees and says that 97% of night workers are never able to adapt. The sleep deprivation of night workers is estimated to cost the economy £20 billion a year. So what should be done?

In 2017, 19% of the total UK workforce worked at night. Now it is 27% – about 8.7 million people. The number of employees from an ethnic minority background working at night has increased by a whopping 71% (360,000) in the past decade, while the number of white employees has fallen by 19% (570,000). One in six ethnic minority workers and one in eleven white workers are part of the night-time workforce, some on set evenings, others on rotas.

In 2018, the Wellcome Trust commissioned the Liminal Space to investigate how companies can improve employee health. “What we found is that night workers are out of sight and out of mind, even for management,” said Sarah Douglas, co-director of Liminal Space. “For example, we were told that food was offered, but that is not the case. They are vending machines with candy and energy drinks. Some employees drink a dozen energy drinks a night to keep going. Some solutions are that simple. Why not provide a microwave so that the workers can eat their own decent food?”

Douglas, in collaboration with the Co-op and in collaboration with night workers, sleep researchers and psychologists, has now developed the Nightclub initiativewhich aims to provide employers and employees with expert advice in the workplace on issues such as nutrition, rest and travel. So far it has reached more than 10,000 night workers and bosses in sectors as diverse as retail, transport, healthcare and defense.

In the unlikely setting of Gate O at London’s Victoria bus station, a dimly lit Night Club station – a neon-adorned shipping container adorned with posters – took up residence last month. Inside, night workers received advice in 45-minute blocks about nutrition (walnuts, peanut butter and chicken are better than chips and chocolate) and health, and tips for dealing with sleep and stress. A quiz determines an employee’s chronotype: lark or owl?

Steve Welsh, who worked nights as a firefighter, is now a sleep scientist and nightclub facilitator. “I’m an owl and didn’t like having to get up early for the day shift,” he said. ‘But after nine years I lost my biological clock. I would be in a room full of people and feel so disconnected. My then partner said I was grumpy and difficult to live with, but I couldn’t see it.”

Research from nightclubs shows that 33% of night workers have this second jobs (compared to 22% of day shift workers) and 52% have caring responsibilities (compared to 50% of day shift workers).

“The working poor make up a large share of night workers,” says Douglas. “We encountered situations where the mother puts the children in a duvet in the car and drives an hour to meet her husband who comes from the night shift in the warehouse parking lot. She starts the day shift and he brings the children back.”

Equipment for a nightclub presentation can be reduced in size to fit in a suitcase or hospital cart. But Ben Lumley, co-director of Night Club, emphasizes that it is not just up to the individual to solve night work. Night Club is working with the Universities of East Anglia and Oxford on the upcoming Great Parliamentary Sleep Survey and has four demands for the Government. These are: setting up an annual health check for night workers; appointing a minister responsible for night workers; establishing an expert task force to inform best practices; and funding research into the effects of working at night, including research into gender differences and age.

Last month, five unions, including the transport union RMT and the Communications Workers Union, also published a report on night work. Their demands include a higher minimum wage for overnight stays and paid recovery time.

“It would be naive to say you can’t do shifts,” says Professor Russell Foster of the University of Oxford. head sleep scientist at Nightclub. “But employers and the government have a duty of care. For example, a survey of doctors in training showed that 57% had an accident or near-miss while driving home during the night shift. In Australia, trainee doctors are sent home in taxis. We need action now to protect the health of a very substantial part of our workforce.”