Night shifter needs advice!

baderis07

I work at a hospital and recently made the switch to working nights 3x/week as a Patient Care Tech. I work from 6pm-630am. Anyways, I've adapted pretty well to the new schedule and I've been getting 7-8 hours of sleep, however I am finding myself almost constantly hungry when awake. Because of this I have been going over my calorie allotment. I try to eat every 3-4 hours at work to keep my energy up. The worst time is when I get home from work my body makes me think its starving when it really should be alright. I eat something rich in protein and fiber typically before I go in to work, and then while at work salads, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, grilled chicken, Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers, etc. So why in world is my body screaming that it's hungry?! Is it just not fully adapted to the reverse schedule so it wants more food? My job is a very active one - constantly walking, bending, lifting etc but that shouldn't play too much of a factor I would think since it is only 3 days a week. Any advice or ideas? I would love to hear back from others working nights.

gailygail99

hey...there is an official overnight thread on here, you should check it out. it is all of us overnighters!! i have been on the overnight shift for 8 yrs and it takes a while to get used to. you can friend me and then check out my diary if you want to. it is all about planning ahead and packing up your meals and snacks in advance. :bigsmile:

gdr1976

Yes check out that thread. The nice thing is you're on 12 hour shifts. It was easier for me to adjust to 12 hours than 8 hours, I just end up flipping my whole day over. Like when I get out at 7am it's 7pm for me. I just make sure I bring my own food, a couple of snacks to get through the night and drink lots of water. That seems to help the hungry feeling.

Jadesmommy2003

It's your body adjusting to the shift. I worked night shift for many years and I had it then and then even worse had it when I changed it back to day shift. I would recommend the oriental cracker mix to carry around with you and/or somethign spicy. For a lower calories/ higher protein approach having protein shakes with banana in them at the ready will fill you up. Just my thoughts.

ninyagwa

There's a lot of good advice on here. I also work a 6:30 p to 6:30 am shift. I have set my diary up accordingly by relabeling the categories. I typically eat a small high in protein meal before work, at around 10 pm I have a snack, then a full meal around 1 am, then another snack around 4 am, when I get home I have a smaller meal (bigger than a snack but not full on meal). That tends to work for me, but I also have about 250 calories around 6:30 if I'm going to the gym, and I still have the meal when I get home.

I wish you luck in finding your food equilibrium!