Re: Body cycles and night shift?

the thing that annoys most night shift workers (apart from sleep suddenly becoming a huge issue in one's life) is the waking up in the middle of the day and not being able to go back to sleep! falling off to sleep is easy after work, but staying asleep after 4 - 5 hrs can become a monumental feat. and stressing out about it just makes it worse. i learned to just lie-in and if i didn't nod off again, no worries, i'd just get up and go about my day till my second sleep. it got quite pleasant after a while.

naturally you feel constantly tired at first no matter how much sleep you get. but as long as you log at least 7 hours sleep each day (8 hours total bodily rest) you adjust and stay healthy.

not everyone can cope with night shift tho. some have to give it away. but some are lucky and discover they are latent night owls and handle it just fine. some people even sleep 8 hours straight, after their graveyard shift, but its rare. those i met who could do that had very few interests outside work.

i found i had to change eating patterns to coincide with the changed waking hours and my hunger pangs (grehlin's circadian rhythm) played up and became an unreliable indicator of an empty stomach.

some save their appetite until an hour or so before their early morning sleep, others only have a light snack and eat something substantial when they wake up. you automatically gravitate to what suits you.

the main thing is to enjoy, don't let the changes upset you. unlike animals (altho we still are one) we have a consciousness that can reflect for beneficial reasons and adjust instead of panic when habits get thrown off kilter.

have fun