Working at night puts girls at risk of breast cancer

Women who are used to working at night have many times more chances to develop breast cancer. This was stated by specialists from the Danish Cancer Society.

They examined 18.5 thousand women who served in the army in 1964-1999. From 1990 to 2003, 218 people were diagnosed with breast cancer. Experts contacted 210 of them and compared their condition with a focus group of 899 healthy women.

Their conclusions were as follows: if a woman works constantly at night, the risk of developing breast cancer increases to 40%, and more than two night shifts per week doubles. If a woman is a natural morning person but works at night, her risk of cancer increases fourfold.

Most likely, this is caused by a violation of the usual and stable sleep schedule, which in turn affects the functioning of the hormone that suppresses tumors. Also, according to doctors, working at night under artificial light interferes with the production of melatonin, which is not only responsible for sleep patterns, but also suppresses cancer mutations.