Overnight shift and staying fit

ear1011

Hi my name is emma! I'm a big fitness chick, I'm 23 years old and just got a new full time job (my first one! I've been working part time for the last eight years!) and am going to be moving out of my parents house in about ten days. I will be working the overnight shift and was looking for good ideas in things to do an not to do while on this shift. Also if anyone has any ideas or tips of what not to do when you are living on your own that would be appreciated! I work out 5-6 days a week, I just don't want to get into any bad habits with all this new stuff going on. Thanks for reading and any advice is appreciated! I would love to hear how your eating schedule is if you are on this same shift.

timberowl

I feel for you--I worked nights for a year and a half while dieting.

My advice (this is just what worked for me, everyone's different):

A) force yourself to stay up the entire night before your first night working. play video games, watch movies, whatever you have to do. Go to bed around noon.

Get earplugs and a sleep mask. And some Benadryl if necessary.

C) When you get home from work, eat a small meal (I used to eat a breakfast sandwich) and crash immediately. If you were like me, you will likely only sleep a couple hours and feel absolutely miserable. Suck it up and force yourself to get up immediately. Do NOT lay there hoping against hope to fall back to sleep. Please don't. Get up. Whether it's 9am or 1pm, get up immediately upon waking.

D) Work out (usually around 1pm---or whever you get up). Whatever your workout is, get it in now while you still have soem energy. Then shower and run your errands fro the day (appointments, grocery shopping, etc).

E) Eat a snack or dinner (if you want to go out with friends for dinner, etc) and go back to bed (usually anytime between 5pm-8pm depending when you're done with errands). For my job I had to wake up around 10-11pm, not sure what your schedule is. At this point you've already showered so you can pretty much wake up at the last possible minute.

F) Wake up, eat breakfast (or a small snack, if you ate dinner earlier) and go to work. Around 2-3am, eat your lunch.

Sleeping twice a day for 3-4 hours was always my best bet. The most important thing I can stress is to force yourself to get up when you wake up. Otherwise you'll just lay there miserably tossing and turning all day long.

foxruddellc1

Great for you! Heck of a transition! I am also, 23 years old, but moved out on my own when I was 18, (and only by God's grace and a wonderfully supportive bf have I been able to finish my bachelors!)

A big thing when I moved out on my own, was buying groceries in cash so I spent less, bought frugally, and went at night after work, 4am-7am for me at the time, which gives you lots of time to browse and read labels lol.

But try to set yourself a schedule, and stick with it most of the week. Like for me, I usually would get home around 5am, go to bed and get back up around 11am-12pm, then head STRAIT to the gym.

Going to bed so late really upset my inner clock, so try taking some melatonin, which you can buy at Kroger in pill form. It is a natural hormone your body produces, but when taken will really help regulate your sleep patterns. Try not to take sleeping pills, they stop being effective quickly.

Best wishes!

seawolfssn21

I have had to do a lot of shift work too. I spent 10 years in the military, and recently finished a 4 month assignment in China where I was on rotating shifts. Here are some things that worked for me:

1. I agree with timberowl. You need to start your transition to night shift early. The sooner the better. Also, when I rotated to the night shift I would sleep in ~ 4 hours chunks at first, then eventually I was able to get a solid 8 hours. She is right, if you wake up in the middle of the day, just get up and start your day, then take a nap later.

2. One thing I cannot emphasize enough is prepare ahead of time. You will have a limited amount of time where your schedule coincides with most of the world to do things like food shopping. Always try and get things done at your house/apartment as soon as you can. There will be lots of things that come up last minute that will disturb your schedule. So don't put off doing laundry, or cleaning, or getting the oil changed in your car. This will give you the needed flexibility when something unexpected comes up. There is a saying, "The luckiest people are those that are the most prepared."

3. I always found it easier to workout before the night shift. After was always difficult. Home fitness equipment can come in very handy for schedules like this. Even if you belong to a gym, there will be days where it is just easier to workout at home. When I was in China, getting to a gym was very difficult. I had a set of bodylastics resistance bands and a door anchor that worked out very well.

4. Get meals planned early. It might be easier, at least at first, to prepare most of your meals (especially the meal you will eat at work) on the weekends. You can cook and then reheat, or just prepare the meals so they are ready to into the oven when you want to cook it.

5. Netflix, amazon, hulu, and something to play them, like a roku box, are extremely helpful when working odd hours (or in my case out of the country and odd hours). Its cheaper than most cable packages too.

6. Avoid alcohol when transitioning sleep schedules. It always makes it harder. Coffee on the other hand can be a life saver.

7. Drinks lots of water when at work. This always helped keep me awake.

8. Have something warm that you can wear while at work. Not so warm that you become cozy and tired, but I have found that I would always be cold when working nights and needed a sweater.

9. Try keep your sleep schedule on the weekends. I was the most miserable when I worked night shift, tried to be up at normal times on the weekend, then go back to night shift. Treat it like any other weekend, let your sleep schedule change by an hour or two, but not much more than that.

10. Be very careful when driving. Not sure what kind of area you are going to live and work in, but there are many driving hazards at night. Drunk drivers, deer, that sort of thing. Do not get behind the wheel until you are awake enough to drive.

Good luck!

ear1011

Wow thank you all very much! I will definately be using some of all of your suggestions. I will try my best to get right up after I first wake up, and the tip about getting stuff done and not putting it off will be a good one for me to keep in mind. Also, I will be in a busy area so that idea of shopping around 4-7am is a good one. Thanks everyone!