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“Higher rates of obesity and ill-health have been found in shift workers than the general population,” BBC News reports.

For years, researchers have been linking long-term insufficient sleep to a host of chronic ills, such as cardiovascular disease, digestive problems, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and sleep apnea, not to mention the poor concentration, absenteeism, accidents, errors, injuries and fatalities that lack of sleep can cause in the workplace. More recently, studies have associated less sleep with obesity.

Did you know that getting enough sleep can keep you thin?. There are many hormones that are affected by sleep, and most of them control our appetite, fat, carbohydrate metabolism and the growth of lean muscle. Knowing what these hormones do can encourage you to make a greater effort to get the sleep your body needs to keep your weight in control and to improve your overall health.

According to the survey (The Health Survey for England 2013), shift workers were more likely to report general ill-health, have a higher body mass index (BMI) and increased incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Hormones and Sleep

During sleep, your body secretes serotonin and dopamine. When your body doesn’t get enough sleep, it finds different ways to compensate for the low levels of these hormones while you are awake. The way it typically does this is by sending out signals for sugary foods. These foods cause an immediate release of serotonin and dopamine.

Lack of sleep also increases hormones which increase your appetite. Ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite and makes you feel hungry, is released in excess so that you feel hungry even if your body has enough food. When sleep deprived, your body is slower to release the hormone leptin, which gives you that full, satisfied feeling after eating. The result of these two hormone imbalances is that you crave sugar and still feeling hungry after eating, which leads to overeating.

But that’s not all. Growth hormone, which is responsible for regulating the body’s fat and muscle proportions, is released mainly while sleeping. (If you have kids, you actually may have seen them grow overnight!) Sleep loss decreases growth hormone levels, which in turn slows our ability to burn fat and increase lean muscle.

And one more thing happens when we don’t get enough sleep—lack of sleep can trigger the release of cortisol, often referred to as “the stress hormone.” This hormone promotes the deposit of fat, mainly in the abdominal or belly region.

Preventing Weight Gain

All of this information explains why night shift nurses often experience weight gain. One simple way to combat the disadvantage of working as a night shift is to make sure you come to work with nutritious meals and snacks planned out ahead of time. Also make plans ahead of time for immediately after you get off work so that you are not tempted to grab fast food or go out to eat.

The key to handling night shift hunger is to realise that your natural hunger and fullness cues are not accurate, and to keep to an eating schedule you have planned out in advance.

During a night shift, plan on eating a substantial meal every four hours and one snack. Make the meals on the lighter side, such as a whole wheat calzone made with spinach, bell peppers, sautéed onion and garlic, and low fat mozzarella cheese.

Another good option would be a chicken stir fry with brown or wild rice. Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and a few meat balls is also a great choice. Notice in all of these meals whole grains are a big part of the meal. Whole grains will satisfy the craving for carbohydrate, but will keep you from eating too much. Whole grains and vegetables will also keep your bowels regular in spite of a crazy schedule at work.

The Right Amount of Sleep

So how much sleep do you need? While everyone is different, aim for getting an average of 8 hours a night (some may need only 7 hours while some as much as 9).

If you are unsure how many hours you need, do an experiment during a time when you can sleep as much as you want for four nights in a row. Record how many hours you sleep the fourth night. After the fourth night of unlimited sleep, you should be naturally awaking in the morning feeling refreshed. The hours of sleep you received the fourth night will be the approximate hours of sleep you should try to get every night.

Don’t let sleep deprivation for nurses set the stage for over eating and weight gain! Take control starting from tonight!

Do you have other healthy living tips for our night shift nurses friends? Share the love !