The researchers believe that the effects on glucose can be explained by “circadian misalignment.” This is the mistiming between the central circadian clock in the brain and other cycles, such as sleeping and waking, light and dark, and fasting and eating. This study is the first to demonstrate the health benefits of exclusive daytime eating during night shift work in humans. Insulin signals cells to take in glucose, and diabetes often results from problems processing insulin. The team also found that eating breakfast after waking at night significantly affected insulin levels during the night shift schedule, but eating breakfast during daytime did not. In contrast, those who ate during the daytime showed no significant increases in glucose. Average glucose levels for those who ate at night increased by 6.4% during the simulated night work. Restricting meals to the daytime prevented this effect. They found that nighttime eating boosted glucose levels, which is a risk factor for diabetes. The researchers then evaluated the effects of these meal schedules on circadian rhythms and metabolism. The other group ate only during the daytime. One group ate to mimic a schedule typical among night workers, with meals during both the daytime and nighttime. The participants were then randomly assigned to receive one of two meal schedules while undergoing simulated night work conditions for 14 days. They first tested baseline circadian rhythms using extended periods of wakefulness and dim light. The team enrolled 19 healthy young participants, seven women and 12 men. Results appeared in Science Advances on December 3, 2021. The study was funded by NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).
Scheer of Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital studied whether the timing of meals could prevent night shift’s adverse effects on blood sugar. Sarah Chellappa, now at the University of Cologne in Germany, and Dr. Studies have shown that eating at night, as many nightshift workers do, impairs the body’s ability to process sugar, or glucose.Īnimal studies suggested there might be a way to counteract the negative effects of night shift work on metabolism: limit eating to daytime. It increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Night shift work disrupts the body’s circadian rhythms, or 24-hour internal “clock” that controls sleep-wake cycles. Adjusting the timing of meals may help offset some of the health effects of night shift work.
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