I've some questions for you, /lab/, but it's a bit of a mixed bag so I apologise if I'm being unclear.
First, I'm looking for formal research on the perception of stress and fatigue as it relates to work and shift patterns. Especially going for medical studies, but open to anything relevant.
Second, I'm interested in how this aspect of human psychology/physiology can or has been used by government or business management in order to keep employees pliant. I imagine this would be more political than scientific.
Third, I wonder if there's any research out there on how spending habits relate to fatigue, i.e. whether those who experience greater stress and fatigue at work are more inclined to indulge or overspend.
My line of reasoning is probably apparent by now, but I have a feeling .gs would have some insights into one of these topics.
What have you come up with during your own research? "Formal research on the perceptions of stress and fatigue" from whose perspective?
Seasonal affective disorder, at least anecdotally, is a thing that a lot of shift workers who do the night shift seem to suffer from during the winter months. My best friend gets it bad and so do a few of his work colleagues, they work in a warehouse. They get up in the dark, work in the dark, and go home and go to bed in the dark and don't see very much sunlight outside their days off. Any published research on the subject would be just as easily found by you as it would be by most on .gs I think, I can only really speak for myself and I can't be of much help, but hopefully you get lucky and someone has some valuable insight or information.
I must warn you, threads like this have caused a shitstorm in the past for the OP seemingly showing no initiative to gather this information themselves and basically wanting .gs to google it for them, so if you have any relevant information already on the subject now might be the time to share it.
Alright. I'll share two things, including why I'm hoping someone has some insight. What prompted me was mainly my own anecdotal observations of work. Earlier this year I was at a warehouse, long shifts, and the contrast from student life was that much sharper than any other job I'd had. I take very good care of myself, physically, eating well, regular exercise, good hygiene, no drink/drugs, etc., but then I noticed that the toll of the work was mainly psychological. I would struggle to concentrate on complex ideas, even though I kept my old study habits as best as I could. Media I'd have never watched before suddenly gained appeal because of its simplicity (mainly Hollywood films, sitcoms, work-based reality shows). Even though I was conscious of it, I would get sloppier in my mental habits, how I articulated thoughts. How I thought, altogether, really.
I conferred with a friend who is very much like me in temperament and willpower, and he confirmed he'd felt the same, despite working a more fulfilling and less taxing job. He also said he'd got into the habit of splurging, buying things to help himself feel better. Both our jobs were based in heavily consumerist areas (fast food and online retail). It brought me around to debating with myself whether the creation of boring/mentally fatiguing jobs and how they seemed to fit hand-in-hand with increased individual spending was a happy coincidence of market philosophy or whether it was a known and deliberate policy.
The other thing that got me thinking about this has already been mentioned in this thread. Research about shift work especially has shown to deteriorate cognitive function more rapidly than other kinds of work in the long term:
I will admit it's not something I've researched heavily yet, but that's another thing I'm looking for from this thread, I suppose. Not just for evidence to back up my suspicion, but also to see whether anyone agrees with the connections I'm making, or if research actually points in other directions.
I forgot to mention other effects as well. Advertising had a much more profound impact on me while working that job. I was craving both comfort and glamour, for reasons that are probably obvious. I also felt like I had less energy to question or seriously analyse anything around me.
It might be a difficult thing to empirically prove, but in my mind this effect of work is planned and accounted for by the same places that market popular products. If not, then I at least think it's a happy accident that's being exploited with decreasing job security and uncontacted work patterns.
Kind of agreeing with previouslad, it's takes quite an effort to draw and read when I'm not at work because I'm tired and I'm surrounded by so many people on my way to and from, and at work. I have found that it makes finding another job difficult because I'm tired, but some of that is down to me and bad time management.
I don't earn a lot so I don't have too much spending power, but I do tend to buy take-out coffee quite a lot, sometimes just for something to do. I think something interesting to look at is people that blow most of their money on one or two nights out a month. Anyway I want holidays a lot more, and I have to work harder to stay happy.
For me the problem is the lack of challenge. My company has a silly structure that I can't change, so I basically clear up mess and apologize to people. I have next to no power over how things actually work; I quickly learnt how to deal with recurring problems and that was that.
I'm saging because I'm really anecdotal, might have veered way off-topic.
