Do you feel extremely hungry while working overnight at your office and prefer a snack or two from time to time? Turns out, overnight workers have now been given the green signal to grab a midnight snack, thanks to the first of its kind study, conducted by the University of South Australia.
Researchers investigated how eating patterns can affect performance at work in the study, according to a story published in Daily Mail. Study authors found that a snack was the best way to fuel people working night shifts, rather than having a heavy meal.
Snacks allowed people to have quicker reaction times, mostly because in all probability, large meals can make people feel exceptionally sleepy halfway through the night, scientists said.
Subsequently, a group of volunteers were given cheese, crackers and pretzels for the purpose of scientific research.
Lead researcher and PhD candidate Charlotte Gupta said many work industries are increasingly relying on employees to work round the clock adding that while night shift workers eat on shift to help them stay awake, no research, until now, has shown whether this is good or bad for their health and performance.
During the course of the study, one group was given a big meal at midnight, while the other was given snacks.
While the midnight meal made up 30 per cent of the participants daily calories and the snack was just 10 per cent, another group wasn't given any food at all, having their dinner around 10pm, breakfast at 3am, and snacks throughout the day.
Participants then also rated their level of hunger, gut reaction and sleepiness after eating a meal at midnight.
According to researchers, participants who had a snack just after midnight felt more awake than the other two groups, were the most satisfied with the amount of food and performed best in tests.
Dr Gupta added, "The findings will inform the most strategic eating patterns on-shift and can hopefully contribute to more alert and better performing workers."
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