Chinyelu E. Oraedu, also known as Dr. Yel'Ora, is an academic hospitalist and nocturnist based in Stamford, Connecticut, with more than 17 years of experience in night shift medicine. She currently serves as a per diem nocturnist at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, and MidHudson Regional Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. Board certified in internal medicine, she earned her medical degree from the University of Nigeria and completed her residency at SUNY Downstate. She previously served as an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University.
Dr. Oraedu is the founder of the Dr. Yel'Ora Night Shift Hub, a lifestyle and obesity coaching program focused on improving the health and well-being of night workers. Her work translates the science and lived experience of circadian disruption into storytelling and practical wellness strategies for shift workers. She is a media contributor on circadian health, coauthor of Thriving After Burnout, a compilation of burnout stories from 50 U.S. female physicians, and the former host of The Night Shift Lifestyle Show. Her current scholarly work includes a pilot night shift quality improvement study examining job satisfaction among night shift workers.
She shares insights on night shift wellness through LinkedIn and Instagram.
“Try not to work the night shift if you can.” Many physicians have said this to patients. Some have said it to colleagues. Often, we say it because we understand the science: Working through the night comes at a physiologic cost. Night-shift work is associated with weight gain, chronic fatigue, disrupted sleep, insulin resistance, and increased long-term risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Circadian disruption affects …
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The biological cost of night-shift work on circadian rhythms
When I started working the night shift as a nocturnist straight out of residency, no one prepared me for the physical and mental toll that lifestyle would take on my body. My motivation for pursuing this job opportunity was to spend my daytime hours with my young children: twin boys and my daughter all under five years old.
Night shift work keeps hospitals running, cities safe, and essential services moving while …
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Night shift health tips: How to protect your circadian rhythm
