Morning Cortisol Levels and Perceived Stress in Irregular Shift Workers Compared with Regular Daytime Workers

Abstract

The 24/7 work environment and irregular shifts may markedly enhance the psychological pressure of media work. Changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reflect adaptation to stress. We analysed the correlation between subjective stress, sleep, salivary cortisol, and melatonin hormones among Finnish media workers with regular daytime work (RDW) and with irregular shift work (ISW) while controlling confounders. From 874 employees with regular daytime work or with irregular shift work, 70 employees from both groups were randomly selected. The final number of employees with a complete salivary cortisol profile was 66 in the RDW group and 65 in the ISW group. Five saliva samples were gathered from each subject before and during a working day. The salivary cortisol level of the sample taken 60 minutes after awakening (T1) was compared to the salivary cortisol level taken immediately after awakening (T0, T1/T0 ratio). The ratio was higher in the ISW group than in RDW group. Irregular shift work (P < 0.001), severe stress (P < 0.05), and less sleep (P < 0.05) were independently associated with an augmented cortisol response after awakening. A stressful work environment and irregular shift work enhance cortisol excretion after waking. In the long run, this may become detrimental to health.

Effects of a 24‐hr‐shift‐related short‐term sleep deprivation on cardiac function: A cardiac magnetic resonance‐based study

“…In our study, examinations and blood tests that followed the night shift were performed 15 min earlier on average than those prior to the shift (average time pre night shift: 10:18 hours; average time post night shift: 10:03 hours); this small difference should not suffice to significantly affect results. It could be shown that a stressful work environment and irregular shift work enhances cortisol excretion after waking (Lindholm et al., ). Most of the study subjects were able to sleep in the morning hours just before the completion of their shifts, thus the detected increase in cortisol levels may be related to the cortisol awakening response (Fries, Dettenborn, & Kirschbaum, ).…”

Serum cortisol level and disc displacement disorders of the temporomandibular joint

“…The interval between 8ASC and diagnosis of DDD in our outpatient department was strictly controlled within 3 days. The case who had reverse day and night life would be excluded from our research for disturbed cortisol circadian . Any medical record with incomplete variables would be excluded.…”

“…Generally, the serum cortisol reaches the peak in the early morning for its circadian nature. The serum cortisol of 4 and 10 PM may be influenced by daytime activity because the serum cortisol usually response to acute stressful stimulus or events (11). The 8 AM serum cortisol level (8ASC) has demonstrated an intensely positive correlation with stress, depression and pain (12,13).…”

Circadian angiogenesis

“…Cortisol (dexamethasone), which is high in the early morning, elevated in stressful constant light conditions (110) but reported to be both elevated (111) and reduced (112) in the morning in shift-workers, possibly depending on the degree of experienced stress in the individual (111), is a more clear-cut inhibitor of angiogenesis. Cortisol inhibits pathological VEGF-A production in tumors (113) as well as physiological VEGF-A production in growth plate chondrocytes (114) and vascular smooth muscle cells (115).…”