“A new study by the New England Journal of Medicine released yesterday shows that residency is strongly associated with weight gain.”
Actually, I just completely made that up. What really happened is that yesterday I had my annual physical and, just like the rest of America, I seem to have put on a few pounds over the past year. Shocking, I know. Despite the fact that I made up the above press release, I do feel strongly that I have a case. Let me explain.
1. The ”I don’t know when I’ll get to eat again” Phenomenon: You might think that you would be so busy during residency that you wouldn’t have time to eat and thus you would lose weight. I have a few friends that actually happened to. But in the majority of cases, the fact that you’re always busy creates this perpetual fear that you won’t get to eat. As a result, whenever you come upon food (which happens surprisingly frequently in the hospital…) you feel the need to eat large amounts relatively quickly because you never know when you might get to eat again.
2. The Graham Crackers and Peanut Butter Phenomenon: The hospital has a constant supply of graham crackers and peanut butter allegedly for patient use, but (as far as I can tell) eaten almost exclusively by the residents (and occasionally fellows and attendings driven to desperation). Graham crackers and peanut butter make an excellent snack because a) they can be eaten at pretty much anytime of day or night, b) they are very portable (easily stuffed in pockets without fear of leakage), c) they don’t require any utensils, d) they are ALWAYS available, and e) they are FREE. All of these factors make them almost irresistible to residents.
3. The “It’s free, therefore I must eat it” Phenomenon: As I mentioned earlier, residents have an almost overpowering desire to eat anything that’s free. It doesn’t matter if they just ate or if they don’t like the food or if the food has been sitting there for 4 hours. If it’s free, it must be eaten (my husband reports a similar phenomenon amongst grad students). I think it has something to do with the feeling that we are being vastly underpaid given the number of hours we work.
4. The “I’m so tired I have to eat something to stay awake” phenonemon: This is frequently encountered at 4 am when interns are trying to finish writing their admission notes from the day but keep falling asleep at the computer. It is further compounded by the delicious food that the night nurses are always snacking on and by the fact that you no longer have any will power when you’ve been up for that many hours.
5. The “I’m on call so I deserve a giant cookie” phenonemon: This wouldn’t be so problematic since you’re usually only on call once every 4th night, but it’s a slippery slope and leads to such thoughts as: “That was a horrible day, I deserve a giant cookie,” or “I hate this rotation so I deserve a giant cookie,” or “How could that attending/fellow/senior/parent be so mean? Probably a giant cookie would make feel better.” Pretty soon you find yourself eating a giant cookie everyday.
I could definitely come up with a few more, but I have to go eat dinner. Ah, the irony. Even more ironic because it’s a free dinner…
