Workin on the Night Shift

[wildman536]

Its about Midnight here in Honolulu, only 7 Hrs to Go!! (Then Its Off to The Gym to Kill Bis, Forearms, Calves, and Legs!!)

I just started this Shift 11PM to 0700AM and am kinda feeling weird about my Eating Times. (ill Figure It Out!!)

Any other Night Shifters out there?

[GetnBigr]

Its about Midnight here in Honolulu, only 7 Hrs to Go!! (Then Its Off to The Gym to Kill Bis, Forearms, Calves, and Legs!!)

I just started this Shift 11PM to 0700AM and am kinda feeling weird about my Eating Times. (ill Figure It Out!!)

Any other Night Shifters out there?

Good morning wildman! As far as eating times go, look at it this way, when ever you wake up in the afternoon, that is now your morning. Go from there.

Have a great workout!
GB

[Trulyhuge]

I did the night shift last summer but got to feeling like a zombie and couldn't do it anymore! It is no different as stated, wake up and eat breakfast. I would get home at 7:15 and sleep till 1:00 or so and then go from there. A couple naps here and there. Good luck. you'll get used to it soon.

TH

[wildman536]

Thanks!!

Yeah i just Count my Cals over a 24 Hr Period, because i Train Right After i get Off from Work at 0800ish. then i go to Sleep around 1-2 and Sleep to 10 or 1030. (Sometimes i Wake Up and Eat) I Feel that it is better that way because after a Hard Session at The Gym Downing my Shake coming back to the Barracks and Eating another Meal and a Shake then Hitting the shower, then the Bed, if i wake up and Eat again im just Helping the Recovery Process and then going back to Sleep!!

[The Munster]

Its about Midnight here in Honolulu, only 7 Hrs to Go!! (Then Its Off to The Gym to Kill Bis, Forearms, Calves, and Legs!!)

I just started this Shift 11PM to 0700AM and am kinda feeling weird about my Eating Times. (ill Figure It Out!!)

Any other Night Shifters out there?

Wildman536,
I worked the nightshift, midnight-8a.m. for 4.5 years. I can tell you everything you need to know about organizing your sleep, eating, training and life around the funky hours.
I'm off to the gym right now but I'll respond with more later. Or would you prefer a PM?
The Munster

[wildman536]

naa bro just respond Here!! (So others can see that Work like Us too!!)

Thanks.

((((Maybe Reccomend Sleep Aids??))))

[The Munster]

Alright Wildman536,
Finally I get to talk about something I know ALOT about.

Like you, I'm guessing, I work for a company that is open, and busy, 24 hours a day. Obviously, we have 3 shifts: Days, 8a.m.-4p.m., Evenings, 4p.m.-12a.m. & Nights, 12a.m.-8a.m.

About 6 years ago I was promoted to the Assistant Manager of the Night shift and then 2 years after that, the Manager of the Night shift. I was on the Night shift for a total of 4.5 years.

I honestly wish someone would have told me all I'm about to tell you because I would have been more prepared.

Now, everything I'm going to say is just my personal experience. Everything that happened to me and everything I did to make the shift livable isn't necessarily going to be the same for everyone. That being said, let's go with the bad things first.

Bad thing number 1: In the first year on the shift I went through 2 major depressions, the first lasting 3 months and the second lasting only 2 (because I was able to recognize it). This shift can really screw with your body and consequently have profound physiological and psychological effects.

Bad thing number 2: During the depressions, my training went to shit. I wasn't sleeping right, I wasn't eating right and I wasn't training right...because...I wasn't thinking right. After that first year on the Night shift, I was 10 lbs heavier and my bodyfat % was up about 10%.

Topics: Sleep and Sun, Eating and Training

The most important thing is your sleep! Do not neglect this area. Do not think that because you only got 3 hours of sleep today, you'll surely come home dead tired tomorrow and get at least 9-10 hours because you'll be exhausted. That's not necessarily how it works. Your body has been trained, both during your lifetime and during mankind's very existense on Earth, to sleep during the night (when it's dark) and be awake during the day (when it's light). Your body has many rhythms and wave patterns that have a lot to do with your sleep and your wake. You are going to have to fool your body into sleeping during the day.

When I first got on the shift I would come home at 8:30 a.m. and be in bed by no later than 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. and sleep until around 5:00 p.m. That way I would have the evening to spend with my family. However, the downside to this was I was getting very little if any real sunlight. This is bad. Your body needs sunlight, not just for the vitamins and nutrients that sunlight provides (yes it does) but for psychological effects as well. So, after about 6 months of doing it this way I switched to going to bed in the afternoon instead. I would come home from work around 8:30 a.m. and spend the rest of the day with the family, running errands, working out, you know the usual. Then I would go to bed around 3:00 p.m. and sleep until around 10:00 p.m., get up and see my kids to bed, make myself breakfast and go to work.
This worked very well for me and my family because my wife stays home and we homeschool our kids. So we didn't have 2 work schedules and school schedules to work around.

To get to the point, you have 2 options on arranging your schedule.
Option 1:

11:00p.m.-7:00a.m. is when you work. THIS IS YOUR NEW DAY!!!
7:00a.m.-3:00p.m. is when you live. THIS IS YOUR NEW EVENING!!!
3:00p.m.-11:00p.m. is when you sleep. THIS IS YOUR NEW NIGHTTIME!!!

OR
Option 2:

3:00p.m.-11:00p.m. is when you live. THIS IS YOUR NEW DAY!!!
11:00p.m.-7:00a.m. is when you work. THIS IS YOUR NEW EVENING (yes working in your evening)!!!
7:00a.m.-3:00p.m. is when you sleep. THIS IS YOUR NEW NIGHTTIME!!!

Personally I like Option 1 the best.

No matter how you arrange your schedule, you have to stick to it and make sure your close friends and family are aware of it. They have to respect it. If you have told them dozens of times that you sleep between 3p.m. and 10p.m. but insist on 'forgetting' this and calling or coming by (and disturbing your sleep), start calling them in the middle of the night from work to see how they like their sleep being interrupted. I cannot emphasize this enough. Those around MUST respect your sleep time. If they can't get this through their heads, then they just don't really care about you. Turn your phone off when you sleep. Unless you KNOW an emergency phone call is going to come in during your sleep, no call is important enough to leave the ringer on.
The room:
Black out your windows. If sunlight is coming in, your body will instantly think it's supposed to be awake. I don't care how tired you are, sunlight will snap your eyes open quicker than a double latte from Starbucks. Foil, black trashbags and a large comforter pinned over your window(s) so that when you close the door and turn off the light IT IS PITCH BLACK IN THE ROOM!
Sound proof the room as much as possible. Pinned comforters or eggcrate (you know the soft mats people put on their beds) are good. Don't go overboard and make your room like a padded room in a loony bin but do a good job. If you absolutely have to, get some earplugs. I had to try 3-4 different kinds before I found ones that were comfortable enough.
Try to take notice of the patterns of noisy things that go on in your neighborhood/apartment complex and do what you can to work around these things.
Sleep aids:
If you absolutely need the help. Try 1-3mg melatonin about 1 hour before you go to bed. Me? When I needed it, I needed 3mg. I'd sleep great and wake up feeling fine. The other guy on my shift at the time? He'd take 1mg and crash and wake up feeling drugged. He ultimately got to where he only needed .5 of a 1mg pill. Take it easy with this stuff until you find your tolerance level. You don't want to get into a pattern of NEEDING it to get to sleep and then NEEDING ephedrine and caffiene (stimulants) to wake up and function.

Eating. Whichever schedule you adopt (Option 1 or 2 above) just adhere your normal eating to your NEW DAY, EVENING AND NIGHT. It's that simple.

Training. Same as eating. Put your training where you would normally put it in your schedule taking into account your NEW DAY, EVENING AND NIGHT.

Take this seriously, Wildman. Statistically, depression and suicide are higher in people that work the night shift. It can really jack you up if you don't stay in control of it. I don't know what your support system is but if you feel your personality is changing, find someone to talk to. PM me if you need to. I'll do anything I can to help.

I typed all this pretty fast. If I've been blurry about any of it, let me know and I will try to clarify. Hope it helps.

An additional note, since I've been off the shift, I've known 2 people at my company to go on the Night shift and come back off because (a) their bodies could not handle the changes and (b) they didn't have the self-discipline to alter their lives accordingly to accomodate the changes.


The Munster

[wildman536]

I cant Thank you enough for the info bro!! THANKS A TON!! Itll surely Help!!!

[The Munster]

I cant Thank you enough for the info bro!! THANKS A TON!! Itll surely Help!!!

No problem at all. Always glad to help.

[mark mcgwire]

Munster - Excellent post...thanks for sharing that info with everyone.

[The Munster]

Munster - Excellent post...thanks for sharing that info with everyone.

No problem. Like I said before, I wish someone had told me about living those hours. Until I had it under control, that shift had me pretty jacked up.

I was telling my wife after I read Wildman's initial post that I feel like I have some kind of moral obligation to share my experience when people bring up the topic. Silly, I know, but I take it seriously. :grumpy:

[wildman536]

I think i got around 6 Hrs of Sleep but Laid in the Bed for about 8.5 Trying to Sleep.

Time for Day 2!!

[wildman536]

Day 2.

0350 Am.

Man!!! Not Really Tired but Hungry!!!!

Legs are KILLING ME!! (Especially Hams)

[wildman536]

This Week went Good. I am getting Used to It!

What do yall think---- Its the Weekend should i go to Sleep during the Day and Stay Up all Night? or should i Stay Up during the Day and Sleep in The Night??

[The Munster]

This Week went Good. I am getting Used to It!

What do yall think---- Its the Weekend should i go to Sleep during the Day and Stay Up all Night? or should i Stay Up during the Day and Sleep in The Night??

Wildman,
I can't believe I forgot to cover the weekend issue. I apologize.

Here's what I did. As you know from my previous post, I would work during the night, stay up during the day and sleep from 2pm-10pm. So, come Saturday morning as I got off work, I would usually not go to sleep at all on Saturday during the day and go to sleep that night. If you are already used to staying up til 2 or 3 p.m., it isn't too bad staying up for the rest of the day. But, you've got to have something to do. You can't really be sitting around all day or you'll find yourself crashing. Have something to do.
Then, on Sunday, I'd sleep during normal hours as well, at night. But, I'd be sure and try to get up pretty early Monday morning and get that day going pretty quick. Then, that evening, around 6 or 7 pm, I'd take a 3-4 hour nap before going in to work that night. The nap gets you back into sleeping in the evening and helps set you up for the week.
I know others that don't do it this way. They keep their hours the same ALL week long, even the weekends. But, with a family to spend time with during the weekends, that wasn't an option for me.

My advice is to do whatever works best for you or whatever works for you period. You are going to have to see which weekend pattern you can get away with. Like I've said before, however, once you know what schedule works best for you, stick to it!!