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Dolly Parton famously sang the song that said that working nine to five was “taking and giving nothing.”
But working traditional hours could be good for you, according to a new study, which suggests the shifts you work earlier in life may be linked to your health years later.
Scientists analyzed data from more than 7,000 people to see whether employment patterns in younger adulthood were related to sleep and physical or mental health when they reached age 50.
Dolly Parton famously sang the song that said that working nine to five was “taking and giving nothing.” But working traditional hours could be good for you, according to a new study, which suggests the shifts you work earlier in life may be linked to your health years later. Dolly is pictured attending the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards in Frisco, Texas, 2023.
They found that, compared to people who worked primarily during traditional daytime hours, those whose careers featured more volatile work schedules slept less, had poorer sleep quality, and were more likely to report depressive symptoms at age 50. .
The most striking results were seen in those who had stable work hours in their 20s and then transitioned to more volatile work hours in their 30s.
Researchers suggest that erratic work schedules are associated with poor sleep, physical fatigue, and emotional exhaustion, which can leave us vulnerable to unhealthy living.
The study also suggests that the positive and negative impacts of work schedules on health can accumulate over a person’s life and lead to health inequalities in old age.
Professor Wen-Jui Han of New York University was the lead author of the study.
She said: ‘About three quarters of the work patterns we observed did not strictly conform to stable daytime work throughout our working years.
Poor work schedules are associated with poor sleep, physical fatigue, and emotional exhaustion, which can leave us vulnerable to unhealthy living.
‘This has repercussions. People with work patterns that involved some degree of volatility and variability were more likely to have fewer hours of sleep per day, lower sleep quality, lower physical and mental functioning, and a greater likelihood of reporting poor health and depressive symptoms to employees. 50 years than those with stable work schedules.’
It explained that people with volatile work patterns were “significantly more likely” to report poor health, even compared to those who were unemployed.
“Volatile work patterns can be a chronic stressor in our lives,” he added.
The study, published in the journal Plos One, also revealed that black participants with low levels of education and volatile work schedules were more likely to have poor health.
Previous studies have shown that shift work is also linked to poorer memory and slower mental processing.
Researchers have suggested that working outside of traditional hours interferes with the circadian rhythm (our internal biological clock), causing people to miss out on good quality sleep, which can affect the brain.