Shift work linked to depression: BBC News Review

Could when you work lead to anxiety and depression? A new study says yes.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about this story.

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and try the quiz on the website.

Now, the story.

People who start work

outside of the regular nine to five

are at a higher risk of

poor mental health.

A new study of UK workers

has found that those who work shifts are more likely to suffer

from anxiety and depression. Smoking, lack of

sleep and exercise are more common among shift workers. In the study,

shifts are defined as work that starts outside of the typical nine to five.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have: tied to,

after all and odd.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from Mirage News.

Shift work tied to depression and anxiety, lifestyle factors key

So, this headline says that shift work is tied to anxiety and depression.

'tied to' is the vocabulary

we are going to learn about and today Beth,

I'm wearing a clue.

I am wearing a tie and the verb to attach that tie to me is 'to tie'.

Can you tell us some more?

Yeah. You're looking very smart.

So, you tied your tie to yourself

and now it's attached to you

and attached to your shirt, so that is a clue here.

'Tied to' is related to 'attach'.

Yes, that's right. But that is literal and in this headline,

it's being used metaphorically, so there is a link

or a connection between shift work and anxiety and depression,

just as there is a connection,

a link, between this tie and my neck.

Can you give us another example?

Yeah. So, the police might tie a criminal,

a person, to a crime,

if they find evidence.

Again, there's a link or a connection between the criminal and the evidence.

And going back to our story about shift work, getting

a good night's sleep is tied to living longer.

OK, let's look at that again.

And I think I'll take my tie off. Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from the Mail Online.

Why 9 to 5 isn't so bad for your mental health

after all: People who do

shift work up to 22% more likely to suffer depression

and anxiety, study suggests.

So, working from nine to five, which is regular working hours

for a lot of people, isn't bad for your mental health

after all.

And 'after all' is the expression that we're going to learn about now.

Can you explain it more, Beth?

Yeah. Well, it means that, in the end,

something was different to what you expected.

So people thought

that working nine to five wasn't so good for your mental health,

but, actually, it turns out that

it's not that bad after all.

So, it's different to what you expected.

Yes. And to give another example, last weekend

my plan was to go to a big outdoor festival,

but the weather forecast was terrible, rain was expected.

However, the sun came out after all

and so I could go to the festival

after all. It wasn't what I expected.

That's good, but I've just thought...

remember that meal that you cooked for me?

Oh, yeah. Beans on toast.

Yeah. It looked terrible.

But, actually, it wasn't that bad after all.

OK, good. Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from The Messenger.

Odd hours and night shifts

raise risk of depression, anxiety: study.

So odd hours increase the risk of anxiety and depression

and we are looking at the adjective 'odd', which has a few uses in English.

You might know the mathematical meaning. Numbers like 1, 3, 5, 7.

Not really connected to that, though.

It's not really. So, if you say something like,

'Hmm, that's odd',

it means it's a bit unusual,

so other adjectives that we use in a similar way are 'strange' and 'weird'.

So the headline says odd hours, meaning hours that are different

to the nine to five that a lot of people have as normal.

'Odd' can be quite negative sounding though, in English.

So how do we use it?

Well, it's often used to describe situations.

So, I have a friend who is always on time, but I met her yesterday.

She was late and I thought,

'That's odd. She's normally here on time.'

Yeah. We can also use it

with objects and places.

So, perhaps you'd go to a museum and it's full of odd little artefacts –

they're a bit strange.

Let's look at that again.

We've had tied to – linked to,

after all - it's not actually what you expected,

and odd – unusual.

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