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Night work could damage your health

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New research says working at night can damage one's health. It increases the risk of cancer, diabetes, mental illnesses, and heart diseases. Researchers from the U.K.'s Sleep Research Centre discovered that many genes in the body needed to follow a regular 24-hour cycle, which includes sleeping at night. If this cycle is broken, up to 1,500 genes could get damaged. This could lead to life-threatening diseases. Professor Derk-Jan Dijk said: "The study has important implications because we now need to discover why these rhythms exist" and what the consequences are.

The human body has around 24,000 genes. Many switch off if the body does not sleep properly. This can make the immune system less efficient, which means we get ill more often. Dr Simon Archer said: "Over 97 per cent of rhythmic genes become out-of-sync with mistimed sleep." He said this explained why we feel so bad with jet lag or after night shifts." Despite the results of the research, it is difficult for people to change their lifestyles. It is difficult for society to function without people working night shifts. People need to understand the dangers of night shifts and reduce the bad effects.