Night watchmen, firefighters, health professionals, many people work at night. But, busying yourself while others are sleeping is not without health consequences. According to a recent study, working nights would have a deleterious impact and even more for men’s health.

Based on tests conducted on mice and humans, researchers have found that males are more vulnerable to disturbances of the “biological clock” induced by these staggered schedules. Through this study, scientists found that male mice exhibited negative effects related to exposure to these abnormal day-night cycles. “Everything from their genetic activity to their gut bacteria to their blood pressure went haywire,” the study’s statement said. On the other hand, the female mice did not suffer from the same inconvenience. “I wouldn’t want people to interpret that as saying night work isn’t bad for women. This suggests that this work could be a little less harmful for women, but we need more research to understand why,” nuanced Dr. Sabra Abbott, associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Confirmed results on humans with data from more than 90,000 workers. “Men who worked nights were more likely than those who worked regular hours to have metabolic syndrome – a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes that includes high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. , as well as excess fat,” the study details.

Night shift workers were also at higher risk for metabolic syndrome than women who worked regular hours. But this risk was mitigated after considering some factors like job type etc. Experiments in mice have shown the role of estrogen since female mice whose ovaries had been removed were less protected. These findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Dr. Garret FitzGerald, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, points out that the risk differs according to the work performed: “What was striking was how disruption is ubiquitous. Genes, proteins, insects in the gut, blood pressure, everything is turned upside down”.