fatigue in healthcare - reaching for that energy drink
As I sit here wanting to take the education-blog section for a test-drive on cardiologynursing.org I find myself reaching for white monster to get me through the day….
Being a healthcare worker…I wonder if I am doing myself harm.
Come on, More Energy
The rise and rise of energy drinks and pre-workout drinks/gummies/gels/chews/powders is ever prevelant in society. It turns out that healthcare workers (HCWs) are very much fond of energy drinks.
In 2021 Kathryn Phillips et al, published “Caffeine and high energy drink use and knowledge by nurses in three countries” in the Journal of Applied Nursing Research.
“In a sample of 182 nurses, caffeine use was high with 92% of nurses in Korea, 90.8% in Italy and 88.1% in the United States (US) having at least one cup of coffee a day while 64% of Koreans and 11.9% of those in the US had at least one HED per day. In Korea 68% of nurses (Italy 63.1% and 35.8% US) had at least one cup of caffeinated tea per day. Most agreed there is a need to educate nurses about HED, which contain high amounts of caffeine. Over half of nurses in Korea (58%) and the US (56.7%) said their colleagues consume HED at work.”
In my own sample of our containers-for-change bin, its clear that we consume a few HEDs here in the Australian Healthcare workplace.
The next questions is: could we do better?
A more targeted and evidence based approach to working double-shifts and nights? How do we belay the effects of sleep deprivation in HCWs?
Come on, more creatine instead
The effects of creatine as an exercise supplement have been explored in the literature (Burke et al., 2023).
Emerging research points to the cognitive benefits of creatine.
“The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis” Chen, et al., 2024)
- Sixteen RCTs included.
- 492 participants in total. p=492.
- Significant positive effects on memory..
- significant positive effect on processing speed time.
- NO changes to overall cognitive function or exectuvie function (I think this means its not going to make you smarter?).
these studies all involved a minimum time of 1 week dosing creatine
around 3-5g per day loading, or longer term usage of 3g per day.
So creatine can improve memory and processing speed which in itself is fantastic. What about sleep deprivation?
“Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation” (Gordjii-Nejad et al., 2024).
- these researchers studied how a single massive dose can offset effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance and fatigue-associated metabolic alterations.
- dose was 0.35g/kg
- “results show that creatine induces changes in PCr/Pi, ATP, tCr/tNAA, prevents a drop in pH level, and improves cognitive performance and processing speed”
Should we start taking creatine and see if it helps with shift work?
Definitely an avenue for more research!
WTR.
Research
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de Guingand, D. L., Shoushtari, M. J., Tang, M. K. Y., Midgley, A. W., & Waldron, M. (2024). The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function—A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, 1424972. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1424972
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Burke, R., Piñero, A., Coleman, M., Mohan, A., Sapuppo, M., Augustin, F., Aragon, A. A., Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Swinton, P., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2023). The effects of creatine supplementation combined with resistance training on regional measures of muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Nutrients, 15(9), 2116. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15092116
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Phillips, K. D., Kim-Godwin, Y. S., Lee, H., Kang, H., Costanzo, C. L., & Kim, S. H. (2021). Caffeine and high energy drink use and knowledge by nurses in three countries. Applied Nursing Research, 61, 151478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2021.151478