Working the night shift seems to hit men harder than women in the long term, a Statistics Canada report has found.

The report compared the stress factors and health of shift workers to daytime workers for 1994/95 and 2000/01. It looked at full-year workers aged 18 to 54.

Men who worked an evening or rotating shift were more likely to report stress, relationship problems and feeling little control over their life. As well, 45 per cent of men working an evening shift were daily smokers, compared with 27 per cent of daytime workers.




Irregular shift work was also related to high personal stress among women.

But in the long run, men working an evening, rotating or irregular shift had higher odds of reporting a diagnosis of a chronic condition in the next four years than their male daytime counterparts or women with a non-standard schedule.

Statistics Canada analyst Margot Shields said the men who were studied reported back problems, ulcers, heart conditions and high blood pressure.

Shift work usually a job requirement, not a choice

Three out of 10 employed Canadians worked some type of non-standard shift in 2000/01, the survey found.

Shift work was more common among blue-collar or sales and service occupations than in white-collar or clerical jobs. Older workers and men living with children were less likely to work shifts.

Women were more likely to cite family responsibilities (11 per cent) as the reason for their shift work, compared to three per cent of men. At 65 per cent, more men said working an evening shift was a requirement of the job, compared to 53 per cent of women.

Both men and women who worked shift were more likely to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep than daytime workers.

The study didn't surprise Yves Francoeur of the Montreal police force. He worked shifts for 12 years and said he would fall asleep at the wheel two nights out of seven on his 40 minute ride home.

Francoeur said the force plans to look into the effects of shift work on the health of its employees.

The Statistics Canada analysis was based on cross-sectional and longitudinal health data, and looked at roughly the same number of men and women.