In the battle to stay awake on overnights, doctors may do better to head for a snack than a full canteen catastrophe, a study suggests.

SA researchers have looked into whether a meal, a snack or not eating at all is better for alertness and gastrointestinal symptoms on an overnight shift.

They found that a snack shortly after midnight, making up about 10% of the day’s kilojoules, was best for alertness while still keeping hunger at bay.

“Our findings suggest that a small snack during the night may protect shiftworkers from the increased sleepiness experienced after a large meal and the hunger experienced when not eating during the night,” the University of SA researchers reported in the journal Nutrients.