I have to start a week of night shift tomorrow (5pm to 7am). Not sure I’ll have time to train, but if I do- when is the best time? Right when you get off, or before the shift starts? My body will be all kinds of messed up because I also end the week with a 24 hour call. Any ideas? I was hoping to get at least a couple runs and maybe a bike in.
Also, when do you eat?
Thanks!
Jodi
This really depends on what your shift and call are like. As you are probably aware, one week of night shift does nothing for you except screw up your life. Long term night shift workers flip their diurnal cortisol secretion and live quite happily as long as they keep their schedule. Middle shift workers basically shift their secretion. Swing shift workers are basically screwed. They don’t have a chance to acclimate to their schedule before it changes again.
I would suggest keeping the workout light and before the shift. You’ll probably have trouble shifting your sleeping pattern anyway. Err on the side of sleep deprivation right before your schedule changes back to normal so that you can get a good 8-12 hours of sleep before you go back to your regular schedule. That’s what worked for me.
Good advice on the getting back to schedule. I was wondering how to do that. And I think training before I go in might help wake me up.
They have us working only 5-midnight on Thurs, then off Friday, and 24 hour sat-sun shift, then days M-R with 24 hour Fri and full day Sun. It’s totally screwed up. I doubt I will get any sleep on calls- it’s labor and delivery. My biggest challenge is that Wed I have a meeting I can’t miss at 2pm. Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to this week!
Thanks for the help!
Jodi
I work shift work: 2 days, either 0600-1600 or 0800-1800, followed by 3 nights, 1900-0600, 1800-0500, 1700-0300, and then 4 days off. I find it extremely difficult to get into any sort of schedule, but lately have been trying to make sure I ride before work, and run after work, whatever time that may be. Swimming depends on the pool schedule. When I throw in overtime and callouts, my scheduling for training basically goes something like this: “ok, its Monday, sometime today I need to ride my bike”. I put total blame on my inability to reach elite status on my job. I swear that genetics has nothing to do with it… Or lack of motivation…
As for food, I try to stick to the same schedule as always, eating something every few hours that I am awake. Again, it gets difficult because I don’t get set meal breaks, so I am always grabbing stuff on the go, but thats just the nature of my job and I have gotten used to it.
Good idea on the eating. I need to bring a lot of healthy, low cal snacks. I don’t want to balloon up. I’ll have to use drinking coffee instead of eating as my trick for staying awake.
Jodi
Are there any other shift-workers here who can offer some advice/help? I am always looking for ways of getting into a better routine (other than quitting my job).
I’ve worked night shift of one flavor or another for the last 8 years or so. Currently, I work 4:30pm-2:30am (which isn’t bad actually). If you are only doing overnights for one week, I’d say call training a wash. Your body is going to be totally exhausted and I bet you sleep very little. I’ve found that it takes me about a month to transition from true dayshift (say, 8am -5pm) to overnights. The first few weeks are awful … little sleep, and not quality sleep.
On my current schedule (which I’ve had for the last year and a half) I try to get to bed by 3:30am and get by 10:30-11am. I lounge around a bit, get chores errands done then get in a workout between 1:00 and 3:30, at which time to get ready for work. I actually have quite a bit of time for working out, but family/social life is pretty difficult. (Although, I do have 3 days off per week … Thursday-Saturday, and basically Sunday as well since I don’t go in until 4:30).
On overnights, I’m so tired by 7am that I’m barely able to undress and brush my teeth before sacking out. I’d usually try to get up by 4pm, but frequently slept later (I found I slept more on mids, but still felt tired). I usually eat first thing then workout, and then try to fit in errands, family/social life etc. Mids is hard, no matter how you do it. Although, I did find it was easier to have a social/family life on overnights than my current schedule.
Eating … eating while working nights is huge. I try to be a grazer … eating small frequent meal-ettes, avoiding caffeine after midnight. It’s very easy to eat VERY poorly on nights … at 0200 there’s not much open except for McD’s. So, it takes forthought and planning. When I’m on the ball, I pack fruit, Clifbars, things like that … that are easy to eat on the go and are healthy-ish, if not healthy. Lately, I’ve been failing badly on my nutrition … eating big meals, then not eating for hours; drinking tons of caffeine and sugar (Red Bull and Monster are, I think, more addictive than meth); not eating nearly enough fruit/veggies. It’s reeked havoc on my GI and has affected my sleep pattern. I really need to get this in check. I’ve found that eating poorly and late (like within a few hours of my planned bedtime) really screws up my sleeping.
Good luck.
Good call. I think this week is going to be a total wash. It’s not just that it’s a night shift… it’s a 14 hour night shift. I’m just hoping to make it through the week without getting sick!
Thanks for the pointers!
Jodi
No matter how desperate you may be, stay away from the Hot Pockets!
Good luck Jodi. When I did it I was going to school, all I remember it was not fun. I would wake up not knowing where I was, even though it was the same house and same bed I grew up in.
Ugh, I hate that feeling! That happens whenever I go to sleep during the day. Good stuff…
Jodi
They have us working our regular days here at the hospitals 0700-1700 and then call from 1700 till sometimes past 1200 the next day. Usually I go home for a 2-3 hour nap then go for an easy workout and just try to go to bed early so that my sleep schedule isn’t too disrupted. Usually takes me the following day to get back to somewhat normal only to do it all over the next day!! I had nights of 8 hours of sleep or nights of 2-3 hours while on labour and delivery. Usually it wasn’t too bad past 3AM
No matter how desperate you may be, stay away from the Hot Pockets!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFFTwnYXI20
Brad
I do the same type of work as you and work mainly nights. However we do 12hr rotors. I have been doing it for about 2yr now and still cant get used to it. I do alot of 2 a days. I will usually do a swim on the way home in the am after getting off. It is an easy light workout and helps me unwind after a tough shift of being on your feet all night. One thing that helps is GET TO BED AS SOON AS YOU HIT THE DOOR. Unplug the phones sleep in a dark, cool place. You tend to sleep better. I usually don’t sleep that long though on the days that I work. I am usually up by about 2p and out the door for a run or ride about an hour after that. I take off every Fri-Sun and do my long stuff then. I have a family with 2 young ones and a wife that trains also and this seems to work. We still also have plenty of family time. Another thing that I have been doing most the the winter is commuting on my fixie to work. The hospital always has showers and lockers in the OR or Cath Labs. Good luck. You will survive.
Actually, stay away from the Joe. Your sleep pattern will be messed up already and this will just super charge it even more.
If you have a set schedule and work out after you get off work in the am everyday, you will get a better response from your training time. You have to go to the gym or pool or ride/run. Don’t let the siren song of the bed call your name. It sucks, but once you start your workout, you will feel better. I have done shift work for years, with call. Sleep in the afternoon, and go to bed at the same time every afternoon. You will be surprised how well your training will be. Eat a good breakfast after your workout and you are set to have a great day.
i’m wondering about this too. i just accepted a position that’s 3, 12 hour nights a week.
at first i was excited about having four days off each week. but now, i’m worried that i’ll be so messed up from the shift work
that i won’t be able to get in the quality workouts…
When I was in college I used to work the midnight shift on a truck dock (circa 1970). No one trained back then. We would just go to the tavern at 8 am when our shift ended. So, maybe you should be thinking of having some cold ones rather than getting all worked up. 
Everyone reacts differently to the nights. I would be incapable of training with only 10 hours of home time. I would sleep 8 and leave one hour at each end for care and feeding. This is also why I gained 10-15 lbs of pure fat in residency. If you can get by on less sleep, more power to you. Let us know how it goes.
Good advice on the getting back to schedule. I was wondering how to do that. And I think training before I go in might help wake me up.
They have us working only 5-midnight on Thurs, then off Friday, and 24 hour sat-sun shift, then days M-R with 24 hour Fri and full day Sun. It’s totally screwed up. I doubt I will get any sleep on calls- it’s labor and delivery. My biggest challenge is that Wed I have a meeting I can’t miss at 2pm. Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to this week!
Thanks for the help!
Jodi
OK, so I’m mostly done with it…
The first night I came home, slept 4 hours and then woke up wired. Went for a 7 mile run on my way back in.
After the third night I had an afternoon meeting, so again slept 4 hours
That night (4th night) my body was so spent. I was emotionally drained. I had been abused for 4 x 14 hour shifts by a bunch of women who hate their lives and love nothing more than to make other people miserable (welcome to Labor and Delivery…). I came the closest I have ever been to breaking down and crying on the job. It was by leaps and bounds the single worst week of my career as a student. I barely held it together and got home and collapsed for 8 hours. Went back in last night for a short 7 hour shift. Then I slept at the hospital for 5 hours and stopped and swam 5000 yards on the way home. Today I have to stay awake so I can sleep tonight in prep for my 24 hour shift tomorrow/Sunday.
So I just trained before my second day and then after my fifth. As for eating, there were days I ate next to nothing and days I ate too much. I tried to stay on my normal schedule but a couple days I was too tired when I got home to eat. It didn’t help that we had bad weather and it was taking me 1-2 hours to commute each way. Man, this has turned me into a hopeless whiner!
Thanks for all the advice! I’m sure I’ll be doing more night shifts this summer in the ED. It was actually easier than I thought to stay awake and I was starting to adjust. But I have to say, I’m not sad to be starting days on Monday!
Jodi