Rotating shift workers & extra long days

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CaffeinatedConfectionist
CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone else who works rotating shifts has tried to calculate how many additional calories they burn by having extremely long days? I work first shift on weekends and third shift midweek, so I tend to have a few days where I'm up and active for 30+ hours (well, active in that I'm not sleeping, but my job is pretty sedentary). This isn't balanced by a comparable amount of sleep in one block - at most I can sleep for 10 to 12 hours when coming off a long day, but I usually just sleep slightly longer on other nights to make up for the lost sleep. I assume that when I calculate my activity level/bmr, it utilizes the more normal schedule of 6-8 hours of sleep and ~18 hours of waking time rather than ~30 hours of waking time. Does it all just balance out ultimately, because I sleep slightly longer on other nights?

I doubt that the difference of calories burned is very significant, if there is any at all if you look at the week as a whole, especially given the sedentary nature of my job, but I was just curious what other people in the same boat have thought about this. Mostly this post stems from have already been up for 20 or so of my 30ish hours and my brain is already kind of tired out from chasing around my two-year-old niece all day, so my trains of thought take unnecessary routes and make unscheduled stops ^^

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  • pracktish
    pracktish Posts: 18 Member
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    Hi, I am in the same boat....I work 10-12 hour days. I work 8 days straight then 6 off but when I come back to work it is on a different shift each time. So it is hard to keep up with what day it is let alone sleep, exercise and food, lol. Some days I sleep 3-4 hours (thats all I can possibly get in. It's those 8 days I work nights and then have to be up by the time the daughter gets out of school.) Very rarely do I ever get 8-9 hours. But it is definately a work in progress. I feel completely backwards from the rest of the world. I have been trying to keep my log from midnight to midnight...and so far so good...sigh. But I totally caved to that stupid vending machine tonight. I think cuz I'm exhausted. But it's done and over and I'm not going to beat myself up about it....very much :)
  • CaffeinatedConfectionist
    CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Haha, yeah, it gets pretty hard to resist the junk food with that delicious quick shot of sugar and fat once you've been up for so long. I try to map out my meals for the day/shift in advance, since that makes it a bit easier to stick to for me. Tonight I brought hardboiled eggs and baked oatmeal, which is enough protein and is sweet enough to keep me from wanting snacks. Although my coworker is eating a gigantic twix bar, which is testing my resolve :grumble:
  • BlackJack96
    BlackJack96 Posts: 43 Member
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    I have wacky hours sometimes long sometimes short, sometimes over night. My job involves some running around at times but at other times is sedentary. I find this is where a fitbit helps since I know that i'm burning more calories when I'm running around more.
  • mikegl1
    mikegl1 Posts: 238 Member
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    I'll start out by saying I don't have much of a guess about the extra calories you burn by being at work longer but I have two thoughts....
    When I was working longer shifts I brought in 2 to three bags of food for my meals. That way I had the good food for the shift versus the junk fund.
    2nd, I don't count calories I burn at work. All the calories I think about are from food and from exercise. I watch my body and if I am stuck for a month or two then I try something else. (Now saying that I have to include I had been out of the gym from about april until Dec 2012 because of hernias so my workouts where nill in that timeframe).
  • paulcer
    paulcer Posts: 167 Member
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    Odd hours make it hard. When I get hit with those 30 hour days, I just try to keep it under maintenance level, then maybe be really good on the days I get more sleep. Those days are tough on your body.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    I doubt you burn extra due to the long hours especially if your job is sedentary. Your body learns to adapt pretty quickly to a routine although I'm sure that shift work is not good for health. I used to work on call so get home after 11 and get called in for 7 again. Two years of that was enough!
  • CaffeinatedConfectionist
    CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
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    2nd, I don't count calories I burn at work. All the calories I think about are from food and from exercise.

    Yeah, I don't count calories from work, housework, cooking, etc, etc, either. It just makes me wonder, sometimes, if I should consider upping my activity level from sedentary to lightly active, since I am a bit more active on those extra long days.

    But I tend to agree with everyone that if there is any extra burn at all, it would be negligible.
    I used to work on call so get home after 11 and get called in for 7 again. Two years of that was enough!

    That sounds pretty miserable! I'll be glad when I get off the rotating shift, hopefully in the next year. Til then, planning out my meals in advance and drinking coffee when I get cravings helps, lol
  • mariah_papaya
    mariah_papaya Posts: 39 Member
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    I work 6-hours on, 6-hours off, for 28 days straight, followed by 28 days completely off (yeah it's nuts). I find that the extra "time awake" does not do me any favours, nor does the sleep deprivation which drives me to shovel down carbs like they're disappearing from the planet! I don't think that just "staying awake" is enough of a burn to bother counting it, the same as I don't count calories burned walking to my car in the grocery store parking lot. This kind of stuff is included in the "activity level" part of the questionnaire, and is therefore already accounted for in your daily calorie requirement. Definitely becomes wierd logging when working these shifts and sometimes I'll find I eat way too much, because I kind of have two days in one. For example my day starts at midnight, and I work till six AM, in which time I will have a meal and a snack, and then from noon to six pm, in which time I will generally have two meals and a snack... hard to keep it under when it's so spread out during the day. Anyone else work crazy shifts and want to add me we can compare notes!

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