To have good health and control body weight it is important to follow a balanced diet, but it also influences what time we have our meals, and this seems to be especially important when it comes to people who work shifts, since a study carried out with firefighters who worked 24-hour shifts have found that restricting their meals within a 10-hour period benefited their health; specifically, their ‘bad’ cholesterol and blood pressure were reduced.
“Many of us eat all the time, until we go to bed, but the body does not need it,” said Professor Pam Taub, professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and co-author of the study that He adds that the body needs a rest period for cells to repair themselves. “The stomach, for example, usually digests food during the day and repairs itself at night, but it cannot perform these functions simultaneously. A consistent feeding schedule throughout the day reinforces this pattern and ensures that various organs have time to repair themselves,” she says.
Working shifts, especially the night shift, which requires you to stay awake at night and sleep during the day, disrupts the circadian rhythms that are responsible for regulating sleep and wake times and can harm your health. There are studies that associate it with a higher risk of developing diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, cardiovascular problems, and even cancer, and that is why it is so important to find factors that help counteract its harmful effects on the body.
What time should we eat to be healthy?
The research – published in Cell Metabolism – was conducted by researchers at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego, who asked 150 firefighters from the San Diego Fire Department to record everything they ate for three months on an app. Some of the participants had health problems such as being overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, or type 2 diabetes.
The firefighters’ blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels were improved by eating within a set period of time and fasting for the rest of their shift
All of them were encouraged to follow a Mediterranean diet, rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, fish and olive oil, and were divided into two groups: half of them ate all their calories within a 10-hour period, between nine in the morning and seven in the evening, without skipping meals, while the other half continued with their normal routine and ate within a period of 14 hours, on average.
The results revealed that the health of those on a time-restricted eating regimen improved more than that of the other group, and that their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels were improved by eating within a set period of time and fast for the rest of your shift. Even firefighters who did not have any pre-existing health problems experienced a decrease in their ‘bad’ cholesterol and an improvement in their quality of life by eating their meals within that regular schedule, while no negative effects or reduction in your energy levels.
“We have shown that time-restricted eating is a feasible way for shift workers, such as firefighters, to improve their cardiovascular health and well-being,” said Professor Taub. Dr. Linia Patel, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, said time-restricted eating is something anyone can try and see if it works, though she thinks it may not work for everyone , since “shift work is very difficult and finding the best time to fast is key”.
Some limitations of the study should be noted, such as the fact that the majority of the participants were men and that only one hourly pattern of meal intake was evaluated, but the researchers say that time-restricted eating should be tested in other groups of workers by turns. “It is likely that these findings can be extended to a broader population, including healthcare workers such as nurses and others who experience abnormal sleep-wake patterns,” Taub concludes.
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