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Working overnight could have possible link to breast cancer, researchers discover


Working the overnight shift might have a link to breast cancer, researchers discover. (WSET){ }
Working the overnight shift might have a link to breast cancer, researchers discover. (WSET)
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LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) -- Your job could be putting your health at risk but it's not where you work or what you do. It's when you work that could be the biggest concern.

Chrys Blue has the career she always dreamed about.

17 years ago, the stay-at-home mom took a leap of faith and went to nursing school.

"I always thought about being a nurse, but I never really acted on it, so I went forward, loved it and I've been in neuro ICU ever since," said Blue.

Blue's work in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at Lynchburg General Hospital has her taking care of patients who are fighting for their lives.

But, her schedule may be putting her life in danger.

Blue works overnight for part of the week then flips to a nine-to-five schedule.

Johns Hopkins University researchers found that those who regularly worked overnight, or rotated shifts, increased their risk of developing breast cancer by up to 20 percent.

"Working the night shift is a serious problem because you somehow disrupt your normal physiology," said Virginia Tech biology professor Dr. Carla Feinkelstein.

For the past 15 years, Feinkelstein has led teams of students who have been looking into whether interrupting your body's production of melatonin, the natural hormone that helps you sleep, increases the risk of developing breast cancer.

"One of the hypotheses is that by working at night you're exposed to light and light suppresses the production of melatonin," said Feinkelstein. "When you don't have melatonin, you have estrogen and then you're exposed to estrogen for a really really long time. And estrogen is a molecule that produces or triggers cell division."

The results from the research being done at a lab at Virginia Tech are being shared with the scientific community around the world.

The goal is to impact the way we address the increased risk of breast cancer in third shift workers.

Doctors in Scandanavia have had this possible melatonin cancer connection on their radar for years since those countries see only about three hours of dark during the summer months.

"So what you're doing by being exposed to light for longer hours, is signaling the cells for division and you're telling the cells to divide, divide, divide when they shouldn't," said Feinkelstein.

Feinkelstein said the goal is to find a way to catch changes in the bodies of those on the night shift before cancer can develop.

"The ideal situation is that can we somehow monitor these workers and catch something that we see that is changing or make them more susceptible so we can use this as a prevention strategy," said Feinkelstein.

What can those who work the night shift do to reduce their risk of breast cancer now?

Feinkelstein said first, even on the days you aren't on the job, don't change your sleep hours.

She said that's the worst scenario.

She also said to stay off of electronics when you're in bed including the TV and especially phones.

"The short wavelength of light represses or prevents production of melatonin," said Feinkelstein.

Naps can also help as long as they're around the same time and length every day.

Finkelstein said the most important thing you can do is be proactive about your health.

She said breast cancer takes seven to eight years to develop, which is why yearly mammograms are so important.

It's all about catching the disease early.

This is all still a hypothesis. Doctors aren't quite ready to definitively say overnight work causes breast cancer.

Finkelstein said the hope is that their research will find a specific marker in the body that will identify who's at risk of developing the disease so they can find ways to prevent it.

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