Research
Hormonal
Circadian disruption, such as that caused by shift work or sleep restriction, leads to insulin resistance, hypoleptinemia, and increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Prioritize consistent sleep duration and quality. If you must work shifts, try to maintain a consistent sleep schedule even on days off, and expose yourself to bright light during your 'day' and darkness during your 'night' to help reset your internal clock.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Numerous reports have indicated that shift workers have a higher incidence of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular events... In participants subjected to circadian misalignment, the investigators observed hypoleptinemia, insulin resistance, inverted cortisol rhythms, and increased blood pressure.
Why this rating
Supported by human observational studies, shift work simulations, and genetic animal models.
Source
Circadian rhythms, sleep, and metabolism
Wenyu Huang et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2011
DOI 10.1172/jci46043
narrative_reviewCited 713×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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