When it comes to work, we usually don’t get to choose our hours–thank bosses for that.
Unfortunately, what we can’t control–whether we work the day or night shift–could spell trouble for our waistlines, according to new research.
A new study by University of Colorado Boulder researchers reveals people who work the night shift end up burning fewer calories than people who maintain a normal work schedule–causing them to pile on more weight.
Obviously, that’s not a good thing if you’re trying to maintain a leaner physique.
“When people are on a shift work-type schedule, their daily energy expenditure is reduced and unless they were to reduce their food intake, this by itself could lead to weight gain,” says Kenneth Wright, director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Shift work goes against our fundamental biology. Shift work requires our biological day to occur at night and our biological night to occur during the day and that’s very difficult to achieve because the sun is such a powerful cue.”
The research, now published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explored why people who stay up at night end up gaining more weight–something already confirmed by previous studies. In this study, researchers wanted to know the reasons behind it, whether these shifts made people more prone to eating more or if it caused unforeseen changes to a person’s metabolism.
To do so, researchers recruited a group of participants to adapt two different sleep schedules–the first being a normal daytime schedule.
After the first two days, however, researchers switched them to a three-day night schedule, and that’s when problems started to occur.
Despite having their calories rigorously controlled–the researchers were in charge of that as well–the participants actually expended less energy, or calories, during night shift work, finally explaining why people gain weight while on this type of working schedule.
To Wright, it shows how damaging this routine can be.
“We can have some change in our clock–a couple of hours–but then on days off, it goes right back,” says Wright. “Shift workers never adapt. What we can say is that it’s perhaps even more important to have a healthy diet for shift workers as well as a healthy amount of physical activity. More work is needed before specific recommendations can be made for how to improve the health of shift workers but the new study provides a starting point.”
What This Means For You
For some people, shift work is unavoidable–and unfortunately, so too is the weight gain that accompanies it. So how do you avoid it? Wright recommends really focusing on eating a healthy diet instead, something that admittedly most shift workers don’t focus on. Lowering your caloric intake could also help, as shift workers burn fewer calories during night work as well.
Readers: Do you work odd hours? If so, how do you diet?
Sources:
Working Night Shift Burns Less Energy, Increases Risk of Weight Gain – ScienceDaily.com
Night Shift Work Burns Fewer Calories and Increases Weight Gain Risk (Study) – Colorado.edu
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