Tag Archives: Infertility

Working the Night Shift? How to Cope?

August 13, 2011 8:05 am /

Night shift?? Nightmare!!!!

The mere mention of “Night Shift” conjures up horrific images of a nightmare. Unfortunately, night shifts are a part and parcel of today’s fast life in the working atmosphere – be it Call Centers, BPOs or even software companies, which need people working nights to provide technical expertise/troubleshooting for their clientèle abroad. On the brighter side, people working night shifts take home a heavier pay package.

Night shifts can have a negative impact on a person as they affect sleep patterns, eating habits. In the long run, nightshifts can cause physiological disorders like obesity, gastric problems, diabetes, backache, headache and infertility. Night shifts can also lead to psychological disorders like depression, fatigue, behavioral changes, mood swings, anxiety, frigidity and impotence. Drinking innumerable cups of coffee/tea adds to the problem of sleep irregularities.

The body secretes certain hormones like adrenaline, which it requires, to cope with stressful situations. These hormones are secreted more during the daytime and less during nights, and this is one of the reasons for night shifts taking a toll on a person’s physical and mental well-being. Furthermore, the secretion of an endocrine hormone called melatonin (commonly called “hormone of darkness”) by the pineal gland, which is very vital for the agility and alertness of mind and body, is hampered when one works at night, as darkness is essential for the optimum production of this hormone. The secretion of melatonin is at its highest in the middle of the night and then gradually lessens during the second half of the night. Unfortunately, a night shifter is up and about during these hours and this leads to further hormonal disturbances.

Night shifts basically call for a complete changeover in the biological clock as people working in the nights have to sleep during the daytime – (when their family members and other people are up and about and working) and work at nights (when their family members and the others are cozily snuggled in their warm beds) – a complete opposite in life styles. This necessitates a total change in thinking too, as one has to be alert at night. The job maybe very challenging and stimulating and the person would have to be in top form both physically and mentally to meet the day’s (night’s) challenge.

One needs to condition one’s mind to prepare for and accept the physiological changes that occur both in the body and mind when they accept a night shift job say at a call center.

For a person to be very alert, agile, positive and ready to face the night’s challenge at work, a few basic habits could be ingrained into the daily lifestyle of the person.

* The hours between 3:00AM and 6:00AM are the hardest to go through with, as this is the time when a person is at his/her sleepiest. Try to keep yourself mentally alert and active by keeping your most challenging work for this time slot.
* Listening to music (if your employer allows that), keeping your workplace well illuminated, beautifying it maybe with a cheerful and inspiring picture, or a vase with some beautiful flowers, would help in making you feel good about the work waiting for you.
* Keep a positive and smiling countenance with your colleagues and friends in the office. This could again go a long way in making you and the others feel cheerful and help establish an easy camaraderie within the team.
* Working on the computer for hours together could lead to eyestrain. Closing your eyes for a few seconds – say, maybe once every two hours, or rubbing your palms together and then holding them to your eyes would help relax strained eyes.
* Get up at regular intervals and walk about a little to continue feeling active.
* Practicing some relaxing breathing techniques could make you feel perked up and enthusiastic to work the night away.
* Try not to drink too much of coffee, tea or aerated drinks as these cause more harm than good.
* Try to increase your intake of fresh fruit juices.
* Try to begin your night’s work after a good, nutritious and filling meal, because you need the energy to meet your work requirements.
* Try not to eat very oily or spicy food as this coupled with the night’s sleepless state might increase stomach acidity. Once home, make sure you spend a little time with your near and dear ones generally exchanging news. This will help in keeping those very important familial ties at their best and of course, a happy person is a happy worker too.
* Have a light and nutritious breakfast before you retire to bed to catch up on your sleep. Try to avoid coffee or tea before you get ready to sleep, as this would hamper your sleep pattern.
* It is now scientifically proved that about 5 to 6 hours of deep sleep are sufficient to rest your body after a day of work. Since one is usually accustomed to a dark room at nights, you could try to make your room dark by having some thick drapes pulled or you could even tie an dark colored eye-band on your eyes to get sleep. Make sure your mattress is sensible and provides good support to your tired body.
* Just before sinking into dreamland, you could try to practice some simple yogic exercises like breathing techniques and Shavasana (both are very simple and easy to learn and would take only about 10 minutes of your time) these might help you sleep like a baby.

These small lifestyle changes could go a long way in making you a productive and friendly employee. Following stress-relieving techniques advocated by Yoga and other disciplines could help you cope better with night shifts.

Happy Night Shifts!

Article source :http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles_various/night-shift.asp

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Effects of stress

November 17, 2010 11:52 pm /

Stress and depression leads to low body energy level, disturbed sleep and feeling of exhaustion. Sleepless nights and exhaustion can cause dark circles, wrinkles, acne and pimples which make you look unhealthy and unattractive. Stress can also affect liver hindering its process of toxin expulsion.  Thus accumulation of toxins is also a contributing factor for dark circle.

The stress also affects male reproductive system. It causes erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, low sperm count and infertility. Smoking and alcohol consumption exaggerate the effects of stress.

Try to conquer stress through natural ways. Avoid consumption of anti stress medications as much as possible.

  • Learn relaxing techniques like Yoga and Meditation.
  • Attend aerobic classes or take a walk in morning.
  • Make friendship with persons who have positive attitude
  • Keep away from people who create negative energy. Negative energy increases stress.
  • Drink a glass of vegetable juice in early morning. Do not add sugar or salt to it. Do not forget to add a spoon of fresh ginger juice to it. This healthy drink helps to cleanse body and expel toxins.
  • Drink plenty of water.
  • Include fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet.
  • Avoid deep fried foods and fast foods.
  • Take a good sleep for 7 – 8 hrs in night.
  • Take long deep breath in between your work.
  • Involve yourself in hobbies which you like. Gardening, painting, listening to music or reading books  help to relax your mind
  • A good body massage with herbal oil help to relax body and mind.
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Stress and Reproductive System, Fertility

November 8, 2010 1:05 am /

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have found what they think is a critical and, until now, missing piece of the puzzle about how stress causes sexual dysfunction and infertility.

Scientists know that stress boosts levels of stress hormones – glucocorticoids such as cortisol – that inhibit the body’s main sex hormone, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), and subsequently suppresses sperm count, ovulation and sexual activity.

In humans, chronic stress can lead to a drop in sex drive as well as a drop in fertility. Even the stress of infertility treatments can block their effectiveness, as evidenced by many anecdotes about couples conceiving children after the failure of assisted reproduction.

Animal breeding also is affected by stress. Zoos, in particular, have difficulty getting some animals to reproduce in captivity, Bentley said.

Based on animal experiments, researchers attribute much of this stress effect on sexual function to an increase in glucocorticoids – stress hormones – produced by the adrenal gland. In the brain, these glucocorticoids suppress the main reproductive hormone, GnRH, which in turn causes a shut-down of the release of the gonadotropins luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone by the pituitary, and then a suppression of testosterone, estradiol and sexual behavior.

Read complete article at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154116.php

Posted in: Men Health / Tagged: , , ,

Stress on health

September 17, 2010 3:46 am /

hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2005/04/07/stories/2005040701500100.htm

THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD RADHA is your typical middle-class working mother. Mother of two children studying in the third and fifth standards, her worst fear in life is the milkman or the maid not showing up in the morning.

“I have so many things to do in the morning. Cook, clean, dress up the kids, pack lunchboxes, put the kids in the school van, send my husband to work and then myself go to work. I just lose it when something goes wrong,” she says. That is if the milkman or the maid fails to show up, the utensils, the kids and the husband pay the price for it.

Twenty-two-year-old Richard passed out of college a year back. He now works on night shift in a call centre. After a long night dealing with irate credit card users, he longs to get some sleep in the morning. But morning is the time when his house is buzzing with activity.

“I just can’t get sleep in the morning. There is so much noise. Everyone wants to do everything in the morning. So I end up sleeping just five hours a day,” he complains. His workload and lack of sleep have ensured that his temper is always on a short fuse. But anger is the least of his problems; he suffers from everything, indigestion to anaemia.

Meanwhile, 28-year-old Amit, an art director with an advertising agency, has problems of a different kind. Married for two years, his wife was unable to conceive. Worried, Amit and his wife went to a fertility clinic where doctors found that Amit had very low sperm count, coupled with erectile dysfunction.

All three mentioned above — Radha, Richard and Amit — suffer from excessive stress. And today on World Health Day, it is America’s number one and Bangalore’s growing healthcare problem.

There are no reliable numbers available for people suffering from high stress levels in the city, but it is believed that over 75 per cent Americans have “great stress” once a week.

High stress levels lead to a range of health problems in addition to accompanying psychological problems. And the number one source remains job stress, though stress levels have increased in all sections of the society. “We cannot live without stress. Our body is always stressed but it is high levels of stress that lead to various problems. We are stressed while running, but the stress is anticipated. When you have emotional upsets or suppressed anger, then you start doing some real damage to the heart because the strain lasts for a longer time and is repeated over and over again. It hastens build-up of cholesterol in the coronary arteries and weakens the heart muscles,” warns K.S.S. Bhat, Consultant Cardiologist, Manipal Hospital, and President of the Indian College of Cardiology.

Though the heart is one of the first organs to be affected by excessive stress, symptoms are first noticed when the behaviour of a person changes. Classic symptoms include insomnia, low energy levels, feeling of inadequacy, decreased concentration levels, social withdrawal, excessive anger, self-pity and tearfulness. Marital relations are often the first to be affected by this drastic change in behaviour.

“Often people come back so tired from work they are reluctant to have sex. But it is interpreted as not liking the partner. Also, as stress levels increase, it leads to impotence. About one-third cases of erectile dysfunction are due to stress. So sex takes a backseat and the relationship suffers,” says Vinod Chebbi, psychotherapist and sex and marriage counsellor.

He also points out to another interesting source of stress that prevents people from enjoying sex:

“In India, there is great stress to become pregnant after marriage. The pressure from relatives often becomes so unbearable that sex becomes an act for just having a child. If it fails, the couple go to the extent of even seeking donor semen or fertility treatment,” says Dr. Chebbi.

Both Dr. Chebbi and Dr. Bhat prefer to relieve that extra stress without medication. Exercise, regular food habits and good time management is the mantra, they say.

“There is nothing like a brisk walk in the morning or evening,” says Dr. Bhat.

And to solve marital stress, Dr. Chebbi advises: “The couple must spend time together. They must get used to each other and enjoy time together. About 95 to 97 per cent of stress-related sex can be treated with just non-drug therapy.”

* * *
Fast lane to perdition

IF YOU’RE one of the lucky few who’ve coped well so far, here are some wicked tips to help you join mainstream society:

Never exercise

Eat anything you want

Gain weight

Take plenty of stimul-ants (nicotine, caffeine and alcohol)

Get rid of your social support system (friends)

Personalise all criticism

Throw out your sense of humour

Males and females alike — be macho

Become a workaholic

Discard good time-management skills

Procrastinate

Worry about things you can’t control (tsunamis, earthquakes and Osama Bin Laden)

Become not only a perfectionist but also set impossibly high standards for yourself

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