Page 197 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

The influence of night work on the eating habits of workers

1
Helena Olenik , Damir Hećimović 2
1 Triglav Insurance Community, Koper, Slovenia
2 Valdoltra Orthopaedic Hospital, Ankaran, Slovenia
Introduction: Certain professions require constant readiness and shift work, so night
shifts are inevitable and necessary. The course of such work is often very stressful and
requires a great deal of concentration from the employees. Performing night work
causes to employees that can changes day to night, which leads to many changes in
the body and can worsen the quality and standard of life. Work at night can increase
the risk of many health problems and conditions due to a changed sleep rhythm and
a changed diet.
Methods: In the article, we were interested in the connection between performing
night work and the nutrition of workers during the night shift. For searching, we used
the PubMed database using the keywords “nutrition”, “night work”, “workers”, “nu-
trition at the workplace” for scientific literature published in the period from 2018 to
2023. As search criteria, we considered accessibility of the full text of the article and
searching for articles in English.
Results: With proper nutrition and adequate nutrition at the workplace, we can influ-
ence productivity, reduce fatigue and improve concentration at the workplace, ena-
bling us to perform tasks more successfully and with high quality. The active working
population is a group at risk in terms of eating habits at the workplace. In the research, posterji | poster presentations
we found that workers who work in shifts especially night shifts have a disordered eat-
ing rhythm, low intake of fruits and vegetables, high energy intake of inadequate nutri-
ents, and too high a proportion of sugar and salt in the diet. Researched articles also
describe hormonal disturbances, increased subjective hunger, stomach problems and
increased sleepiness in shift workers. It turns out that it would be very good to intro-
duce and adopt new healthy eating habits in the work environment.
Discussion and conclusions: Fulfillment of conditions such as a balanced diet, sufficient
amount of sleep, concern about mental state, sufficient amount of physical activity are
one of the key factors in ensuring good concentration and sufficient amount of energy
for work. Proper nutrition at the workplace during the shifts and in night shifts, when
the employee is doing his work, also has a great impact on the well-being and health
of the workers. In this area, it would be necessary to carry out some more research
into the connection between night and shift work and its impact on the quality of life
of workers. In such types of training, it is good to implement multidisciplinary coop-
eration of experts from major fields of work, such as the fields of nutrition, exercise
and medicine.
Keywords: nutrition, night work, workers, nutrition at the workplace

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