Nutrition can be a problem anytime one is working, but it is especially a problem while on a nightshift and healthy foods are not always available. Digestion slows down at night.

This makes it necessary to alter eating patterns while working the night shift. Simple adjustments to your eating routine can mean a big difference in how your feel.

• Use the following suggestions to alter eating patterns to aid digestion:
  • eat lightly at night; the human dietary system prefers a lighter meal at night like soup, salad or lean meat
  • make your shift meals as nutritious as possible. Eat fruits, vegetables and breads.
  • drink lots of water or juice while on duty
  • eat balanced meals of food high in nutritional value like fruits, and vegetables. Choose complex carbohydrates like breads and grains. Avoid simple sugars like soft drinks. Eat smaller meals – six small meals instead of three big ones. 
  • cut down on sweets and fats and eat less greasy food. Fatty foods are hard to digest. Junk food and feeling sluggish seem to go hand in hand, especially in regards to sugary foods.

TIPS FOR NIGHT SHIFT EATING

• Start with low fat, high protein to provide energy (meat, fish, poultry, eggs); ingest at beginning of night shift or during sluggish periods
• Gradually progress to carbohydrates, which promote calmness and will lead to fatigue
• Take it easy on the digestive system  when it’s not fully operating by cutting back on eating after midnight
• Choose easy to digest foods (fish, lean meats, skinless chicken, rice, vegetables, soy beans, tofu, whole grain breads and cereals, low fat milk and cheese).
• Eat in smaller portions
• Eat plenty of fibre (fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads)
• Avoid spicy and acidic foods (tomato and orange juice, garlic and onions)
• Limit heavy, saturated fat foods such as donuts, pastries, fatty luncheon meats, pizza and fried foods
• Limit caffeine, especially four hours before the end of the shift so it doesn’t interfere with your sleep
• Try to eat at the same time of day regardless of shift as your body responds better to routine
• Identify what foods cause sluggish feelings for you
• Avoid alcohol before bed as it prevents you from reaching the deep recuperative levels of sleep
• Avoid overeating negative comfort foods (potato chips, ice cream, candy, cookies); instead choose healthy snacks such as fruits and veggies, pretzels, air popped popcorn
• Avoid turkey, warm milk, bananas since they all contain tryptophan, a natural sleep hormone
• Drink plenty of water; good hydration combats fatigue and keeps the organs functioning better under stress
• Reduce liquids during last portion of shift to avoid a bathroom call when you are trying to sleep
• If you’re hungry less than three hours after eating your first meal of the day, you’re not eating enough for breakfast (regardless of when breakfast is)
• Indigestion, heartburn and ulcers are often associated with shift work, but they don’t have to be:
  • quit smoking to prevent excessive air being drawn into the GI tract
  • eat and drink slowly
  • limit gas-producing and spicy foods
  • respond when ‘nature calls’

WHY EATING CERTAIN FOODS AT CERTAIN TIMES?

Carbohydrates

Our bodies need carbohydrates for energy while we are sleeping. While our muscles and brain do slowdown in their use of energy at night, our whole body is doing healing and repair work, and the liver is involved in detoxification.  In fact, one of the key reasons we sleep is because the body is so engaged with energy-consuming chores that it doesn’t have enough resources to keep consciousness (be awake and alert), biochemical replenishment, and detoxification all going at once. Carbohydrates provide the large amount of fuel that our body requires for its activity during sleep. 

If you put off eating carbohydrates until the hours before bedtime, you will sleep better. Not only will you provide your body with the appropriate raw materials it needs to do its work while you are sleeping, but the carbohydrates also allow the absorption of tryptophan (an amino acid needed for sleep) and other nutrients that are needed.

Check if it is a Carbohydrate

• just about any snack food
• if it’s white and not a milk product or egg white
• if it is sweet to the taste and does not contain artificial sweetener

Maintaining the Circadian Rhythm

It is true that light and darkness have provided the strongest signals to keep your rhythm in synchrony with nature. It’s now clear that a combination of light, activity, social stimulation, and the type and timing of food profoundly affect the way a body clock is set. 

Myth – Carbohydrates are for energy. 

This is partially true, but mainly during your sleeping hours. People find themselves puzzled when a breakfast of doughnuts and juice leaves them fuzzyheaded, exhausted, and hungry by midmorning. Taken in the evening, the same doughnuts and juice, however unhealthy, are appropriate and compatible with the circadian rhythm.

PROTEIN

Protein from food is essential for the growth and maintenance of all body tissues. Eating carbohydrates before bedtime means that more fat and proteins will end up in your morning or afternoon meals. But this is not just by default. Just as there are important reasons why your body needs carbohydrates before sleeping, there are positive reasons for eating protein during your “alert” times of the day. Protein provides a platform for the operation of the “day” time chemistry of consciousness and action, and is required for a state of alertness and activity.

Try to eat carbohydrates during the hours before sleeping and protein when you want to be alert.

Back              END