Key result
Daytime-only eating prevents adverse cardiac vagal and PAI-1 changes during simulated night work.
Why the study?
Does daytime eating prevent adverse changes in cardiovascular risk factors in healthy participants exposed to simulated night work?
RCT (n=20)
Single-blind
parallel-arm
Does daytime eating prevent adverse changes in cardiovascular risk factors in healthy participants exposed to simulated night work?
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Daytime eating during simulated night work prevents adverse changes in cardiac vagal modulation and prothrombotic factors, suggesting a potential behavioral strategy to mitigate cardiovascular risk in shift workers.
Effective countermeasures against the adverse cardiovascular effects of circadian misalignment, such as effects experienced due to night work or jet lag, remain to be established in humans. Here, we aim to test whether eating only during daytime can mitigate such adverse effects vs. eating during the night and day (typical for night shift workers) under simulated night work (secondary analysis of NCT02291952). This single-blind, parallel-arm trial randomized 20 healthy participants (non-shift workers) to simulated night work with meals consumed during night and day (Nighttime Meal Control Group) or only during daytime (Daytime Meal Intervention Group). The primary outcomes were pNN50 (percentage consecutive heartbeat intervals >50 ms), RMSSD (root mean square of successive heartbeat differences), and LF/HF (low/high cardiac frequency). The secondary outcome was blood concentrations of prothrombotic factor plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). These measures were assessed under Constant Routine conditions, before (baseline) and after (postmisalignment) simulated night work. The meal timing intervention significantly modified the impact of simulated night work on cardiac vagal modulation and PAI-1 (pFDR = 0.001). In the Control Group, the postmisalignment Constant Routine showed a decrease in pNN50 by 25.7% (pFDR = 0.008) and RMMSD by 14.3% (pFDR = 0.02), and an increase in LF/HF by 5.5% (pFDR = 0.04) and PAI-1 by 23.9% (pFDR = 0.04), vs. the baseline Constant Routine. In the Intervention Group, there were no significant changes in these outcomes. For exploratory outcomes, the intervention significantly modified the impact of simulated night work on blood pressure (P < 0.05), with no significant change in the Control Group, and a significant reduction by 6-8% (P < 0.01) in the Intervention Group; without significant effects for heart rate or cortisol. These findings indicate that daytime eating, despite mistimed sleep, may mitigate changes in cardiovascular risk factors and offer translational evidence for developing a behavioral strategy to help minimize the adverse changes in cardiovascular risk factors in individuals exposed to circadian misalignment, such as shift workers.
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Chellappa et al. (2025) conducted an RCT in circadian misalignment / simulated night work (n=20). Daytime eating vs. Eating during the night and day was evaluated on pNN50, RMSSD, and LF/HF (p=0.001). Daytime eating during simulated night work prevented adverse changes in cardiac vagal modulation and PAI-1 compared to eating during both day and night (pFDR = 0.001).
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