Working time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labour. For every shift our body needs to adopt to the external changes. Before our body could adopt to the change induced by respecting shift, the other shift gets into the cycle. This may cause dreadful disruption of circadian rhythm which maintains all the biological responses including sleep-wake cycle, hormone induction-inhibition, hunger, growth and other cellular processes. Hence preventing the disruption of the circadian rhythm can prevent the disturbances in biological responses. The specific objectives include enumerating the working pattern of general and shifting workers. To compare food habits among general and shift workers. To compare the incidence of various health effects such as Cardiovascular risks, Sleep wake disorders, Endocrinological disorders (Diabetes, Cholesterol), Obesity, BMI, Blood Pressure. An observational prospective study was carried out by approaching the workers. A standard questionnaire was designed to collect the data of the employees from the company and data was analyzed using statistical software. The observed values have shown that out of 302 workers(n=302) general workers were 37%(n=112) and shift workers were 63%(n=190). This study shows that the diabetic status, sleep disorders, appetite and GERD disturbances of the workers are dependent on the shift pattern being followed by them. There was a significant difference between shift and general workers in terms of Glucose levels, Blood Pressure, Total Cholesterol levels and GIT disturbances. The risk of metabolic disorders was higher among those working in shift work rather than in the general workers.
Key words: "Shift Work, Circadian Rhythm, Endocrinological disorder, Obesity, Blood Pressure, occupational health".
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