ASK DR SLEEP

Our lead sleep scientist Professor Russell Foster is back to help you support your shift workers. With thanks to one of our Night Insight newsletter readers for the following topical question…

“As a company that employs hundreds of night shift workers, where do we start with improving our catering offer at night?”

Dr Sleep says: "Appropriate nutrition in the workplace is key to reducing the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular conditions for night working staff. Staff reliance on vending machines, which invariably supply sugar- and fat-rich foods, is deeply unhelpful. Sugar-rich foods or sugary beverages at the beginning of the night shift will produce a ‘sugar rush’ followed by a crash as insulin rapidly reduces blood glucose, all of which help to increase tiredness.

Ideally the canteen should support its staff by providing snacks and easy to digest foods with a high protein content, such as: soups, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, hard-boiled eggs, chicken and fish.”

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If you have a question for Professor Russell Foster aka Dr Sleep, which you’d like him to answer in our next newsletter, please email us at info@night-club.org