Shift workers are those whose work schedules fall outside the normal 9-5. They are often in healthcare, construction, manufacturing, or other fields that require irregular work hours. Although there are benefits to taking these shifts, this shift wreaks havoc on your health. Continue reading to find out ways to regulate your blood sugar as a shift worker. 

Adjustments of a shift worker 

Shift workers often work graveyard shifts or overnight. They sleep during the day and are up at night. This means that they live their whole lives opposite of everyone else. They eat throughout the night and are just winding down when everyone else is waking up. They have to sleep during the day when the light outside may make it difficult, and they have to be up during the night when the darkness makes it so tempting to sleep. 

Shift workers normally get paid more for taking these shifts, as they are less desirable. There may also be more flexibility, as the bosses usually aren't around, and it's a more relaxed atmosphere. In hospitals, the nights may be quieter than the daytime, and also, some workers either work or go to school during the day.  

Shift work disorder 

Shift work disorder is a disorder caused by the imbalance of hormones that happens to shift workers. There is a hormone called cortisol that is responsible for stress. But it is also responsible for jumpstarting biological processes at the beginning of the day. Cortisol peaks in the morning and tapers down throughout the rest of the day as you prepare for bed. 

Your body can coordinate these different releases because your retina, in the back of your eye, receives either light or darkness, and sends a message to your hypothalamus that it's time to release certain hormones. 

As a shift worker, this is thrown off because they're sleeping when light hits their eyes and signals that it's time to wake up. Then, they're awake at times, upregulating certain hormones, like cortisol, which should normally be at low levels. Cortisol impacts glucose management and can be thrown off by the backwards schedule. 

Unregulated blood glucose 

Unregulated blood glucose is dangerous and increases the risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM). DM is a disorder where your body becomes resistant to insulin and cannot take the glucose into your muscles and organs. This can lead to a significant increase in the glucose in your blood. 

High levels of glucose in your blood are problematic because they increase the risk for developing cardiovascular disease, retinopathy (blindness), and kidney disease. It's important to regulate blood sugar to avoid these further complications. 

In shift workers, eating throughout the night and fasting through the day confuses the body. It's used to receiving food during the day and fasting at night. The glucose in your body when you go to sleep is used to fuel all of the recovery processes that happen at night, therefore lowering your blood sugar and maintaining it at an optimal level. When this schedule is disrupted, there is no longer a balance for blood sugar. 

How to regulate blood sugar

A new study shows that shift workers can actually better manage their blood sugar by eating during the day instead of at night. Daytime meals prevented the increase in glucose intolerance, or rise in glucose, that they saw in shift workers. Eating during the day re-establishes a natural glucose rhythm. 

This may seem difficult, especially because shift workers are normally working and therefore would get hungry at night. But if shift workers can eat as soon as they're off work and right before they go, with a meal in the middle, then that may help reduce nighttime cravings for a full meal. Aligning glucose rhythms is really important to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases due to a misaligned work schedule. 

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/shift-workers-can-regulate-body-glucose-tolerance-with-time-of-meals