So much stress and fatigue can be put on law enforcement officers in day-to-day operations. For Stacey, a typical day consists of waking up around 2:30 am to immediately brew a cup of coffee in order to wake up. In between enjoying sips of coffee, she gets dressed and mentally prepares herself for the dreadful day ahead. She heads out the door around 3:00 am and arrive at the station around 3:45 am to get her gear and conduct guard mount. After a long day of calls, cases, paperwork and patrolling she is exhausted and ready for bed. Then, she feels her stomach growling and remembers she has not eaten all day. She plans to grab dinner on the way home; instead the shift supervisor asks if anyone can stay for overtime due to a shortage in manpower. Since overtime sounds nice, she …show more content…
Law enforcement officers tend to stay very busy throughout the day. Between going to calls and inputting casework, things can become very hectic. This usually means they either pick up something quick to eat, consisting of junk food such as Burger King, Taco Bell and so on, or they do not eat at all. This is extremely unhealthy for officers or anyone for that matter. According to the article, “Officer Stress Linked to CVD: What We Know,” by Vinci Jr. and James M., “Studies show that 80 to 83 percent of the law enforcement officers had a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25.0 (considered overweight or obese) (Vinci & James, 2013, para 5). Without the right amount of nutrients in your body the brain does not think properly. When the brain fails to think effectively due to unhealthy eating you begin to make poor decisions that affect others. It is very important as an officer to make on the spot decisions that will be beneficial to the mission and those around you. This is why eating healthy can assist officers in their day-to-day operations and help making decisions a little