Night shift curse: How to tame it

Options
2»

Replies

  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
    Options
    I been working graveyard, 11pm-7am for over 3 years. I found sleep is key. I tried doing it in broken up chunks and it just doesn't work for me. I need at minimum 6 straight hours to function. I found when my sleep is crap, then everything else is crap too. I will be constantly grazing on food to help me stay awake while at work. I don't even bother with the gym since I'll be too tired.
  • RaineyLaney
    RaineyLaney Posts: 605 Member
    Options
    Third shifter here too. Work ER registration/switch board. Very small hospital so I am unable to leave my office. I am only one here for third shift other than the Dr and RN's. So I can not go walk outside, or down the halls etc I work 11pm to 7am 5 days a week. I eat my breakfast around 10pm, my first snack around 1am, my lunch around 3-3:30am and my dinner around 6am. I then eat a second snack at 8:30 am. I will add you as a friend. Feel free to look at my food diary to see what I eat. I work out 3 to 4 days a week. Some days when I get out of work (work out for 1hr) and other days is on my days off at a 24hr gym. Yup, I work out there at 2 am, 3 am, 4am.

    I make sure I get good sleep usually 7 to 8 hrs a night. Some days I sleep shortly after getting home from work, other days, I stay up till 1pm and then sleep from 1pm to 8:30pm - 9pm
  • sassyrngirl
    sassyrngirl Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    This is exactly how I feel!! This site is a wonderful reinforcer that we really are not alone in this and that we can do it!:tongue:
  • BelindaDuvessa
    BelindaDuvessa Posts: 1,014 Member
    Options
    My Diary is open, if anyone wants to look. I log from midnight to midnight. It was too difficult (or maybe I was over complicating....) for me to log it as actual meals. But by logging anything I eat within a certain time frame, I am much more accountable to what I eat. I do the same thing with exercise. If it's after midnight, it goes on the next day. I really only pay attention to my end of the week totals, not so much my daily totals.
  • akj_25
    akj_25 Posts: 244 Member
    Options
    I am an RN working 12 hour nights -- i have learned to always have some healthy - filling foods in the break room. i always have oatmeal available, and usually salad makings with me. so when i am tired and considering grazing on anything that is laying around i go for oatmeal instead and it keeps me filled.

    the hardest part is avoiding the junk food buffet that usually is brought by co-workers and left sitting out staring at you.

    a large glass of water when ever i get a craving helps alot.

    as far as working out - i do little workouts at work -- such as when we are not busy (and nobody is around) i do lunges and squats or jumping jacks. this also does wonders to make me more awake.
    then i do main work outs 4 days a week on my days off and the days after my shifts i focus more on getting necessary sleep.
  • Lobster1987
    Lobster1987 Posts: 492 Member
    Options
    My trick is to get a physical job. I have an overnight job that pays rent, so I can work a part-time day job to gain experience to get me my dream job. So my overnight one is janitorial....mopping and housekeeping in general is a lot of physical work.
  • starspeckled
    starspeckled Posts: 313 Member
    Options
    the hardest part is avoiding the junk food buffet that usually is brought by co-workers and left sitting out staring at you.

    ^^ This!

    I have worked nights for the past 4 years (11p-7a Sun - Thurs) and I tend to track from 10p - 10p. This works for me because I sleep until I have to head to work, so my first food is the 10p snack while I'm driving an hour. And on days off, I am generally asleep well before then, haha. My downfall is Fridays and Sundays. Fridays are "long days" where I tend to stay up most of the day, and Sundays are short because I need to rest before work. I usually even those 2 days out with each other.
  • gettinback2fabulous
    gettinback2fabulous Posts: 37
    Options
    Hey,

    I've been working 3rd shift for 6or7 months now and about 2 wks ago I was working another job during the day but I was getting no sleep and eating horrible so I quit my day shift job and now I'm just trying to get myself in a routine but its been really hard. I get off at 7am so I try to fall asleep withing 2 hrs of getting off and I wake up around 4:30 to do the Insanity workouts with a friend by the time I get home at 6 or 7 I eat something and then start to get tired around 9 which sucks cuz I work at 11p. So all I can tell you is try to set yourself some sort of schdule and see what works best for you I know sometimes if I can't sleep I will go for a run or do some sort of workout to wear myself out so I can sleep...hope you figure something out :)
  • mytman
    mytman Posts: 218
    Options
    I work as Hospital Security and do 9pm to 5am and found that I dont eat much on the nite shift but find that I tend to peck all day obnce I wake up and am always eating, so i can relate to waht you are saying I still have my breakfast at 5am and sleep till noon then lunch when I wake and dinner with my family not sure this works best but seems ok
  • squirrelythegreat
    squirrelythegreat Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    I love Night Shift! Been working 11pm-7am for 5 months now, been losing steady the whole time :) Factory work where we get breaks every 2 hours helps, natural time to graze with lunch at 3. I workout when I get home and have a protein shake and lately breakfast. Sleep from noon until 2 or 3 hours before work (depending on OT start times) I typically try to cook up my meat for a couple days worth at a time. Same with things like sweet potatoes, quinoa, and couscous. This helped me portion out my dinners a lot.

    The thing that makes it all work out for me is staying up overnight hours on weekends. Might not be possible for everyone, but my weeks go a lot better (typically 6 day work week) so it's worth the sacrifice.

Categories