Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep 19;24(1):2555.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20022-w.

Personalized sleep and nutritional strategies to combat adverse effects of night shift work: a controlled intervention protocol

Maaike van der Rhee  1 , Johanneke E Oosterman  2 , Suzan Wopereis  2 , Gijsbertus T J van der Horst  3 , Inês Chaves  3 , Martijn E T Dollé  4 , Alex Burdorf  5 , Linda W M van Kerkhof  4 , Heidi M Lammers-Van der Holst  5
Affiliations

Personalized sleep and nutritional strategies to combat adverse effects of night shift work: a controlled intervention protocol

Maaike van der Rhee et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Working during the night interferes with the timing of normal daily activities and is associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases. Under controlled experimental conditions, interventions focusing on sleep and nutrition can mitigate the short-term adverse effects of shift work. However, it is unclear how these results translate to real-life, how they can be targeted to individual conditions, and how they relate to long-term health. Therefore, the current study aims to implement a personalized sleep and nutritional intervention among night shift workers in the field.

Methods: A non-blinded controlled intervention study is used, consisting of a run-in period, an intervention of 3 months, post-intervention measurements, and a follow-up after 12 months. Three study arms are included: sleep intervention, nutritional intervention, and control group (n = 25 each). Participants are healthy 18-60-year male night shift workers, with at least one year of experience in night shift work. Information from the run-in period will be used to personalize the interventions. The main outcomes are sleep measurements and continuous interstitial glucose levels. Furthermore, general health biomarkers and parameters will be determined to further evaluate effects on long-term health.

Discussion: This study aims to mitigate negative health consequences associated with night shift work by introducing two personalized preventive interventions. If proven effective, the personalized interventions may serve as practical solutions that can have a meaningful impact on the sustainable health and employability of night shift workers. This study will thereby contribute to the current need for high-quality data on preventative strategies for night shift work in a real-life context.

Trial registration: This trial has been registered under ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT06147089. Registered 27 November 2023.

Keywords: Circadian disruption; Glucose homeostasis; Metabolic health; Night shift; Occupational health; Precision nutrition; Real-life intervention; Shift work; Sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic overview of the study. White represents measurements that will be gathered during a study visit. Green indicates measurements that will be taken during the 14-day period (covering night shifts, rest days, and non-night shifts) and monitored remotely. Grey indicates online measurements taken outside of a study visit. The follow-up occurs 12 months after the baseline visit. NU = nutritional intervention
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Baseline measurements are used to personalize the intervention. (1) Measurements collected during baseline, including sleep (via actigraphy watch, sleep diary, and sleep questionnaires), dietary behaviors (via food logging), and glucose metabolism (via continuous glucose monitoring and the Phenflex test with different blood based biomarkers measured pre- and postprandially). (2) These data and their interactions are visualized and analyzed to (3) personalize the sleep or nutritional advice
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wang XS, Armstrong ME, Cairns BJ, Key TJ, Travis RC. Shift work and chronic disease: the epidemiological evidence. Occup Med (Lond). 2011;61(2):78–89. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Loef B, Dollé MET, Proper KI, van Baarle D, Initiative LCR, van Kerkhof LW. Night-shift work is associated with increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Chronobiol Int. 2022;39(8):1–10. - PubMed
    1. Parent-Thirion A, Biletta I, Cabrita J, Vargas Llave O, Vermeylen G, Wilczyńska A, Wilkens M. Sixth European working conditions survey–overview report. 2016.
    1. James SM, Honn KA, Gaddameedhi S, Van Dongen HPA. Shift work: disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep—implications for health and well-being. Curr Sleep Med Rep. 2017;3:104–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Borbély AA. A two process model of sleep regulation. Hum Neurobiol. 1982;1(3):195–204. - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources