Avoiding late-night snacks reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease for night workers
Apr 09, 2025
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This is the result of a study published in the scientific journal Nature Communications by Professor Frank Shea of Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School in the United States. The explanation suggests that mealtime may be a greater risk factor than sleep time in cardiovascular health associated with shift work.
The research team asked 20 young and healthy participants to stay in an unknown time space in the clinical research center for two weeks to work night shifts, and measured changes in physical function while controlling meal times, and analyzed the effects of night shifts and meal times. Participants stayed awake for 32 hours in a dark illuminated environment, maintained a constant posture, ate the same snacks every hour, and then participated in simulated night shifts, with some assigned to groups that ate during the day and night, and some to groups that ate only during the day. Since then, various cardiovascular risk factors such as autonomic nervous system indicators, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, which increases the risk of blood clots, and blood pressure have been measured, and the effects of meal times and night shifts were investigated.
The survey found that participants who ate during the day and night had both increased cardiovascular risk factors compared to baseline after night shift, but participants who ate only during the day had the same risk factors before and after night shift.
The research team said that avoiding or restricting eating at night could help night workers or people with insomnia, sleep-arousal disorders.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
