Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
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Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
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Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#2A decade or two back, the US Navy used the recruiting slogan "Accelerate Your Life."
On submarines, it wasn't uncommon to see men who looked unusually old: full head of grey hair before age 40, perhaps.
I have never been a medical resident, but submarine service can be pretty damn stressful; we jokingly called the service "the life accelerator" because of how fast people seemed to age.
I always chalked it up to natural deviation, but maybe it'll turn out to be a genuine effect of sustained stress.
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#3A decade or two back, the US Navy used the recruiting slogan "Accelerate Your Life." On submarines, it wasn't uncommon to see men who looked unusually old: full head of grey hair before age 40, perhaps. I have never been a medical resident, but submarine service can be pretty damn stressful; we jokingly called the service "the life accelerator" because of how fast people seemed to age. I always chalked it up to natur…
Are submarines more stressful than surface ships? I was never in the Navy but I've heard surface warfare officers complain that they were constantly sleep deprived. Between standing watches, training, maintenance, and managing subordinates they barely got a few hours of poor quality sleep per day.
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#4Not surprised at all. I have friends still in med school. Apparently there’s an exam called the Step 1 where you can only take it once, and if you pass but don’t do well enough then you get shipped to somewhere not great to do your residency. I thought the hardest part was the MCAT but I was totally wrong :(
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#5Residents don't sleep much, so this doesn't surprise me at all.
Related, the residency process needs to be massively reformed. The flimsy justification for making people responsible for human lives work 80 hours a week is usually that the long hours help them learn faster. But that's really BS. The brain has an incredibly hard time forming new memories when sleep deprived.
I know a couple of nurses who often talk about how spaced-out residents are at night. They'll page them to consult on something, usually waking them up. The residents will usually just blearily agree with whatever the nurse was planning on doing, so they aren't getting in meaningful physician supervision.
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#6A decade or two back, the US Navy used the recruiting slogan "Accelerate Your Life." On submarines, it wasn't uncommon to see men who looked unusually old: full head of grey hair before age 40, perhaps. I have never been a medical resident, but submarine service can be pretty damn stressful; we jokingly called the service "the life accelerator" because of how fast people seemed to age. I always chalked it up to natur…
Are submarines more stressful than surface ships? I was never in the Navy but I've heard surface warfare officers complain that they were constantly sleep deprived. Between standing watches, training, maintenance, and managing subordinates they barely got a few hours of poor quality sleep per day.
Subs keep their air at significantly lower oxygen concentrations for fire safety reasons which may contribute to the stress. I had a teacher tell stories about sailors putting bags over whatever emitted the oxygen and then breathing it directly.
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#7A decade or two back, the US Navy used the recruiting slogan "Accelerate Your Life." On submarines, it wasn't uncommon to see men who looked unusually old: full head of grey hair before age 40, perhaps. I have never been a medical resident, but submarine service can be pretty damn stressful; we jokingly called the service "the life accelerator" because of how fast people seemed to age. I always chalked it up to natur…
Are submarines more stressful than surface ships? I was never in the Navy but I've heard surface warfare officers complain that they were constantly sleep deprived. Between standing watches, training, maintenance, and managing subordinates they barely got a few hours of poor quality sleep per day.
I was never permanent crew on a surface ship, but that story certainly sounds familiar. For added fun, though, submarine crews are divorced from circadian rhythms: a submarine "day" is 18 hours long rather than 24.
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#8Just graduated from medical school. Started out with 0 gray hairs. Now I have salt and pepper hair on the sides. Not worth it.
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#9Residents don't sleep much, so this doesn't surprise me at all. Related, the residency process needs to be massively reformed. The flimsy justification for making people responsible for human lives work 80 hours a week is usually that the long hours help them learn faster. But that's really BS. The brain has an incredibly hard time forming new memories when sleep deprived. I know a couple of nurses who often talk abo…
It's well known that mortality rates spike when new residents enter hospitals:
https://www.nber.org/digest/sep05/w11182.html
Re: Physician Training Stress and Accelerated Cellular Aging
#10Residents don't sleep much, so this doesn't surprise me at all. Related, the residency process needs to be massively reformed. The flimsy justification for making people responsible for human lives work 80 hours a week is usually that the long hours help them learn faster. But that's really BS. The brain has an incredibly hard time forming new memories when sleep deprived. I know a couple of nurses who often talk abo…
> They'll page them to consult on something, usually waking them up.
IME they're usually not asleep.