Study concludes that women who work shifts would be less vulnerable than men to the risk of metabolic disorders. Male mice exposed to circadian stress have biological changes in the liver and gut microbiome that do not appear in females.
Authors suggest that this female resistance to circadian misalignment could be historically linked to a biological need for parenting. The findings could "have social implications that influence the future redesign of shift work, including how to deal with transmeridian travel," say the authors of the study. The study was published today in the journal Science Transnational Medicine.