The team compared the occurrence of MS among study subjects exposed to shift work -- defined as working any time between the hours of 9:00 pm and 7:00 am -- at various ages against those who had never worked night shifts.
The result was astounding: in both groups the researchers found that those who had worked night shifts for longer periods of time before they turned 20 had twice the risk of developing MS compared to those who never worked shifts.
The researchers suggest that disrupting a person's circadian rhythm, or daily rhythmic activity cycle, along with sleep loss could play a role in the development of MS.
"With shift work, your biological clock gets out of whack and you have poorer sleep quality (and) both these things have been shown to impact the immune system," Hedstroem told AFP.
My turn: They get it backwards again: Subclinical autoimmune activity causes nerve damage resulting in anxiety and insomnia, which predisposes these people to choose night shift work.
When I was in college, I thought after-hours retail inventory was the Perfect Job.
