Working the late shift has long been linked to bad health. Recent studies suggest that for people, such working habits could increase the risk of cancer.

Researchers found that people who engaged in prolonged late-night rotations were almost twenty percent more likely to develop cancer in comparison to women who worked normal daytime hours.

While examining specific cancers, the researchers discovered that women who worked extensive late hours into the night were subjecting themselves to a higher risk of developing skin cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer.

Co-author Xuelei Ma, Ph.D., of the West China Medical Center at Sichuan University in China, and colleagues recently reported their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 15 million or so people in the United States do not have normal working hours, including late shifts.

Previous studies have shown that irregular late shift work can severely disrupt our biological rhythm. Referring to our internal clock which regulates the body’s physiological processes over a 24-hour cycle, and it primarily responds to light and dark in the environment or day and night.

Late night shift work has been correlated to a plethora of poor health, resulting in obesity, heart disease, and various types of cancer.

In the current study, They were searching to discover more about the connection between long-term night shift employment and cancer risk.

All-around risk of cancer elevated about by 19 percent

The researchers came to their discovery by performing a meta-analysis of 61 studies. These included a total of 3,909,152 subjects and more than 114,000 cancer cases. Participants were from countries such as Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

The team utilized this information to assess how long-term night shift work was connected with the risk of developing many different cancer types.

In a different study, the researchers examined whether long-term night shift work encompassed was linked to the risk of six cancer types.