People who work night shifts might benefit their health by undertaking regular blood donations, scientists say today.
Disruption to sleep caused by jetlag or shift-working has severe effects on red blood cells, Austrian researchers say.
Their research shows that jetlag appears to reduce the removal of old red cells.
These cells can increase the risk of heart attack because they are more likely to clot than fresh cells, according to the scientists from the University of Innsbruck.
Their findings come from a study of zebrafish. Researchers found that oxygen deprivation could help counteract the effects of loss of sleep by stimulating the production of red blood cells.
Researcher Dr Margit Egg said: "In zebrafish, hypoxia in combination with jetlag led to the production of fresh red blood cells, counteracting the harmful consequences of jetlag and reducing mortality by 10%.
"Blood donations in humans also stimulate the generation of new fresh erythrocytes. Therefore, blood donations on a regular basis might be a very simple measure to help decrease the cardiovascular risk in human shift workers."
The findings are to be reported to a conference of the Society for Experimental Biology in Manchester, UK.
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