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KPBS Midday Edition

Think The 9 To 5 Is Tough? Working Outside Of It Is Harder — On Your Body

Emergency room Dr. Scott Freiwald examines a patient as nurse Becky Welburn enters all of the relevant information into a computer so all hospital staff can have easy access to it.
Kenny Goldberg
Emergency room Dr. Scott Freiwald examines a patient as nurse Becky Welburn enters all of the relevant information into a computer so all hospital staff can have easy access to it.

Shift work — working outside of the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. time period — has been found to have negative health effects, including depression and obesity.

A free seminar on Tuesday at the Salk Institute will give tips on how to better cope with shift work. It is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Satchin Panda, a professor at the Salk Institute, is the featured lecturer at the event.

He will talk about the impact of light and when you eat on maintaining a strong circadian rhythm.

"Almost every cell in our body and every neuron in our brain have a circadian rhythm, or a 24-hour clock," Panda said. The clocks are set to repair cells and clean systems in our bodies at certain times. When that's disrupted, Panda said, it's like the body is experiencing perpetual jet lag.

RELATED: Should We Switch To A 5-Hour Work Day? This Local CEO Thinks So

Panda joined KPBS Midday Edition on Monday to offer tips for workers with abnormal work schedules.