The direction of shift-work rotation impacts metabolic risk independent of chronotype and social jetlag--an exploratory pilot study - PubMed

This pilot study investigated the metabolic risk markers of steel workers across different shift-work rotation schedules. Findings revealed that workers in fast clockwise rotations exhibited significantly lower fasting glucose and HOMA index scores compared to those in counterclockwise or day-shift schedules. Interestingly, these metabolic advantages were observed independently of the workers' individual chronotypes or levels of social jetlag. While the sample size was small, the study suggests that the direction of shift rotation may be a critical factor in mitigating the negative health impacts of non-standard work hours.