A new study [suggests / suggesting] working shifts at night can be damaging to one's [healthy / health] . In particular, it increases the risk of several cancers, diabetes, mental illnesses, and [various / variety] heart diseases. Researchers from the Sleep Research Centre at the U.K.'s University of Surrey discovered that [many / much] genes in the body needed to follow a [regular / regularly] 24-hour cycle, during [when / which] the body sleeps at night. If this cycle is [breaking / broken] , up to 1,500 genes could get damaged, eventually resulting [in / at] potentially life-threatening diseases. Professor Derk-Jan Dijk said: "The study has important [complications / implications] because we now need to discover why these rhythms exist and think about the [consequences / consequential] of that." The human body has around 24,000 genes. Many of these [switched / switch] off if the body does not follow a [regularly / regular] sleeping pattern. This can cause parts of the [immunity / immune] system to become less [efficient / proficient] , making us more [susceptible / suspicious] to illnesses. Study co-author Dr Simon Archer said: "Over 97 per cent of rhythmic genes become out-of-sync with [mistimed / mischief] sleep, which really explains why we feel so bad during [jet / air] lag or if we have to work irregular shifts." Dr Dijk said that despite the results of the research, it would be [difficulty / difficult] for people to change their [styles / lifestyles] . He explained it was difficult for society to function without people working night shifts, but said people needed to understand the dangers and "[mitigate / migrate] the impact".