Diet and Being awake for 24 hours

[KidnKorner]

I have a dilemma! I'm eating every 2-3 hours 6 times a day. Sometimes unexpectedly I have to stay awake for 20-24 hours because of my job. What happens when I have one of these days when I have one of these days? Do I continue to eat as normal into the extended day? Or, should I replace whole meals with a skim milk/whey protein shake?

Also, when I get home I usually end up sleeping 10-12 hours when this happens. Is this bad? I try to get 8 hours sleep as often as possible.

Thanks in advance

 

[Thundergut]

It would be my uneducated guess to say just keep eating like normal. Though, if it were me, I'd be eating less or lighter during my usual sleeping hours.

The body is going to burn a set amount of calories just to exist, and thats assuming your body gets some good downtime (aka sleep/rest). So 16 hours awake and 8 hours of sleep will burn XX amount of calories. I would assume that since you're delaying that rest, and staying awake for 20-24 hours, and then 8 hours of sleep, your body will burn more calories than a regular day.

Lets assume that you're up for 16 hours, and sleeping for 8 hours in a given day. Now for sake of the numbers, lets say each hour = 1 unit of calories. When you're awake, your body burns 1 full unit. When you sleep, your body burns 1/2 a unit. So for 16 up, 8 down, your body would burn 20 units of calories.

Now lets say you're up for 24 hours, no sleep. Your body still burns 1 unit of calories per hour of awake time, and 1/2 unit per hour of sleep time. So being up for 24 hours would burn 24 units of calories.

So aside from throwing your internal schedule out of whack, working extended hours would require additional calories.

Personally, after reading what I've read, I wouldn't be replacing meals with a milk/protein shake. I'd try to balance whatever I ate after my normal meals. Not too heavy on protein, carbs, or fats. Maybe just a meal replacement shake if you're pressed for time, but I wouldn't try to overload on the protein if you're already getting enough in your regular diet.

Also, as for sleeping 10-12 hours after being up fro 24...above all, listen to your body. If your body needs 10-12 hours of sleep to recouperate from the 24 hour shift, and it won't affect your other duties adversely by doing so, then by all means, I say do it. As far as I know, the only person hurt from sleeping too much was Johnny Appleseed.

Again, just my uneducated opinions above. I hope they help at least a bit.

 

[MikeMartial]

As a firefighter/paramedic, I know where your coming from, and I've been there. Hell, I'm there right now, working a 14 hr nightshift

What I tend to do is try and maintain a regular diet; the biggest challenge for me is actually getting enough food. When I start getting tired and run down from a long shift/back-to-back shifts, my appetite goes down the tube. I find by eating small, clean meals every 3-4 hours, I'm able to maintain a decent energy level.

With shiftwork, you just have to try and adapt your diet and training. If I'm too burnt out to hit the gym, I do anyways, but I make it a light workout. Once I'm there, I could go ahead and have an all-out hard workout, but 1) My immune system is already compromised from lack of sleep, and 2) I'll need to sleep after, and if I'm too jacked up, I can't sleep. A light workout is better than none.

With the diet, a bit of discipline and having prepared meals goes a long way.

As for the sleep----get it when you can. Whatever works for you. I can't seem to do more than 7-8 hrs at a time. Anymore than that, and I'm a zombie.