The list of celebrity revelers who partied too hard to make it to their gig the next day is long and legendary. Some, like Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, have mended their ways; others, not so much. But it's clear, celeb or not, that what you consume the night before can have a profoundly negative impact on work the next day.
Doctors have long known that late-night indulgence in drugs and alcohol can cause serious problems at work, increasing the risk of accidents and missed deadlines. Now there is evidence that late-night unhealthy eating also triggers physical problems, such as headaches, stomachaches and diarrhea, and emotional strains that negatively impact how people behave at work throughout the next day.
That's the conclusion of a new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Researchers found that unhealthy late-night eating - specifically junk food and snacks - makes many folks inclined to avoid work-related tasks the next day and to be withdrawn and unhelpful around colleagues. More proof, say the researchers, that both what and when you eat has far-reaching effects on your wellbeing.
"The big takeaway here is that we now know unhealthy eating can have almost immediate effects on workplace performance," says Seonghee Cho, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology at North Carolina State University.
The solution? Adopt a plant-based diet, free of red meat, egg yolks, added sugars, fried and ultraprocessed foods, and confine your eating to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., eating 80% of your calories before 3 p.m.
(c)2021 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
King Features Syndicate