TY - JOUR T1 - The impact of a meal, snack, or not eating during the night shift on simulated driving performance post-shift JO - Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health PY - 2021/1VL - 47 IS - 1 SP - 78 EP - 84 AU - Gupta, Charlotte C AU - Centofanti, Stephanie AU - Dorrian, Jillian AU - Coates, Alison M AU - Stepien, Jacqueline M AU - Kennaway, David AU - Wittert, Gary AU - Heilbronn, Leonie AU - Catcheside, Peter AU - Tuckwell, Georgia A AU - Coro, Daniel AU - Chandrakumar, Dilushi AU - Banks, Siobhan M3 - doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3934 UR - https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=3934 KW - cognition KW - driving KW - driving performance KW - eating KW - meal KW - meal pattern KW - meal timing KW - night shift KW - nocturnal eating KW - shift work KW - snack N2 - '

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OBJECTIVE ': 'The commute home following a night shift is associated with an increased risk for accidents. This study investigated the relationship between food intake during the night shift and simulated driving performance post-shift.

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METHODS ': 'Healthy non-shift working males (N=23) and females (N=16), aged 18–39 years (mean 24.5, standard deviation 5.0, years) participated in a seven-day laboratory study and underwent four simulated night shifts. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: meal at night (N=12; 7 males), snack at night (N=13; 7 males) or no eating at night (N=14; 9 males). During the night shift at 00:30 hours, participants either ate a large meal (meal at night condition), a snack (snack at night condition), or did not eat during the night shift (no eating at night condition). During the second simulated night shift, participants performed a 40-minute York driving simulation at 20:00, 22:30, 01:30, 04:00, and 07:30 hours (similar time to a commute from work).

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RESULTS ': 'The effects of eating condition, drive time, and time-on-task, on driving performance were examined using mixed model analyses. Significant conditionĂ—time interactions were found, where at 07:30 hours, those in the meal at night condition displayed significant increases in time spent outside of the safe zone (percentage of time spent outside 10 km/hour of the speed limit and 0.8 meters of the lane center; P<0.05), and greater lane and speed variability (both P<0.01) compared to the snack and no eating conditions. There were no differences between the snack and no eating conditions.

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CONCLUSION ': 'Driver safety during the simulated commute home is greater following the night shift if a snack, rather than a meal, is consumed during the shift.

SN - 0355-3140 ER -