Meal timing and content during night shifts

Hi BBM

I’m a shift worker and am currently trying to improve my body composition. I was wondering if eating at certain times could hinder my progress.

my current shift pattern goes like this:
day 1. 06:30-18:30

day 2. 06:30-18:30

day 3. 18:30-06:30

day 4. 18:30-06:30

4 days off. Repeat.

I don’t think I do enough nights in a rotation for my circadian rhythm to change much. I generally eat 1 meal before work. I 1 meal during and 1 meal after.

I have read that insulin production is reduced during ‘biological night’ so it may not be wise to eat carbs during that time. Also what about other macros?

Do you guys have any advice on eating during shift work?

Many thanks

Mark

I don’t think meal timing plays a significant role in body composition. I would not agree that macronutrients need to be managed related to the circadian rhythm.

As far as advice on eating during your shifts, what issues are you having, if any?

Hi Jordan

Thanks for the response. To be honest, I don’t have any issues eating on shift. If feels exactly the same whether day or night.

I was just concerned if eating late at night/early morning is bad for you. Some colleagues choose to fast on nights, some don’t.

Nope, it’s fine.

1 Like

Dr. Feigenbaum,

What about the assertions made in this paper? I am not a doctor, or any sort of biological professional, so your take on it with respect to the thread topic would be very appreciated.

https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(22)00397-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413122003977%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

At present, we know that individuals with impaired glucose control (e.g. insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, pre diabetes, etc.) seem to do better with respect to managing their blood sugar, lose more weight, and so on if they eat the majority of their Calories earlier in the day. Think of time restricted feeding where after a dinner in the early evening, people don’t eat anything else. We also know that a workout in the afternoon seems to render this all mostly moot, but there may be additive effects.

We also know that eating at similar times each day also helps with hunger ratings and various related hormones, such that changing the meal time itself can produce the effects seen in the paper you linked.

None of this really applies to shift workers whose circadian rhythm is shifted anyway, and not to individuals who do not have excess adiposity w/ impaired glucose control.

We went a bit more in depth on this with our podcast [NODE=“142”]LPR Symptoms and Treatment[/NODE] with Danny Lennon: Episode #142: Chrononutrition - Barbell Medicine Podcast - Apple Podcasts

Thank you very much for the response. I apologize for going off the topic. I didn’t initially realize it was for a specific population until you mentioned it here and I went back and took a closer look. I have a followup question but will post it in my own topic so as to not take this gentleman’s post any further off topic.