The impact of meal timing on performance, sleepiness, gastric upset, and hunger during simulated night shift
Summary
Eating a 01:30 night meal worsened vigilance at ~04:00 compared to not eating at night; not eating increased hunger/minor GI upset.
Why It Matters For Night Shift Workers and Night Owls
This RCT whether keeping most calories in a daytime window, with minimal overnight intake, showed sleep & alertness for night‑shift workers and night owls. The signal puts timing—rather than only calories or macros—at the center of how bodies respond to working at night. For people who work nights, that frames an everyday choice (when you eat, how you light the end of a shift, how rest is split) as part of the mechanism, not just routine.