Are you a night owl, and you keep your mouth busy with snacks? If yes, then you are eroding your health. Eating unhealthy items at night can make you less productive at work, according to a recent study. Having unhealthy foods at night can cause you headaches & stomach aches. Moreover, having junk food before bed can develop negative moods. Albeit we try to be careful with our sleep, and engage ourselves in physical activities to ensure our day at workplace is productive, we rarely look at the effects of having an unhealthy diet.
According to researchers at North Carolina State University, your eating habits determine your performance at the workplace. A study was conducted on 97 regular employees working in U.S who answered questions for 10 consecutive workdays. These questions were related to employees’ well-being. They provided insights on their work and about their eating habits before going to bed. Asked three times in a day, the employees also answered questions related to their workday like what they did at work, and how they felt before going to their offices. Moreover, their eating habits before going to bed were also reported.
The Research
From this study, it was observed that employees who followed poor diet plans witnessed physical problems. It was also observed after eating snacks at night, the following morning, people went through physical & emotional problems. These strains also caused a feeling of remorse in participants over their improper diet choices.
To address these problems, the researchers suggest that organizations need to look after their employees’ dietary needs. This can facilitate them improve employees’ performance, which in turn will benefit them too.
It was also reported that some participants were less affected by unhealthy eating at night, thanks to their enhanced level of emotional state. These participants coped with stress better than the ones who were emotionally volatile. The poor diet habits didn’t break their emotional stability, and they reported less physical and emotional strains. As a result, their performance at the workplace didn’t reduce.
