It’s exhausting to attempt to work a night shift without sleeping. No matter what you try to stay awake during a shift when you’re weary, it always appears to be ineffective, leaving you searching for your next energy boost.
Sleep is frequently not a priority, despite the vital function it plays in keeping us healthy, aiding in digestion, balancing our hormones, and generally keeping us calm. Our personal health, particularly our sleep, suffers as a result of our hectic night shift working schedules.
There are several tricks you can do if you’re feeling fatigued while working the night shift, but there is no substitute for sleep. Here are 8 things that we always use and rely on.
This movie will be useful to you if you’d rather watch than read.
1. During your night shift, keep the lights on.
Try to resist the urge to make the room feel dark and pitch-black by turning out all the lights.
Important chemicals like melatonin regulate not just how much and when we sleep, but also greatly influence the circadian rhythm of our bodies.
Since humans should sleep when it is dark, melatonin levels rise during the night and decline during the day when it is bright.
We need to keep the lights on to deceive the melatonin into believing it is daytime, since night shift workers are confounding this meticulous regimen.
We need to be productive at work, so we don’t want these hormones to start acting just yet.
The reverse is true once we arrive home. Put on your blue light-blocking glasses, turn out all the lights, and lower the blackout blinds. The hormones that regulate sleep will now begin to work!
Visit our website on shift work tools for more details regarding the equipment we employ to help us unwind after a night shift, such as eye masks and blackout shades.
2. Avoid eating pasta and pizza
Even when you’re exhausted and feel like you’ve been hit by a bus, you still need to choose foods that won’t make you feel worse.
This can be accomplished by bringing leftover pizza from home or by ordering a new one for takeout. The same holds true with pasta and similar carb-heavy meals.
Overnight, our digestive system performs a separate, slower function (although this varies depending on the sleep cycle you’re in). This indicates that the body’s digestive system is just not equipped to quickly break down these substantial meals and lipids. When it comes to the digestive system, these kinds of foods demand “all hands on deck,” which is just not possible overnight. Lethargy and fatigue can also result from this, along with feelings of bloating, nausea, and stomach pain.
Due to the “increase in blood sugar, followed by a drop in insulin levels, which can produce weariness and weakness,” these high-carb foods. We should save these for the weekend or on days off because they include a lot of sugar and flour, which can also make us drowsy.
Instead of one large dinner, we advise having several smaller, filling snacks throughout the night.
Like as
- Tuna and crackers with raw vegetable sticks and hummus, such as celery, bell peppers, carrots, and
- snow peas if you want some crunch.
- Berries and nuts (avoid the roasted type of nuts)
- Chinese pudding (pre-made the day before)
- entire eggs or deviled eggs.
- Cheese on a stick.
3. Suck Gum
Right, it seems too easy. As it turns out, the research suggests that even chewing gum for 15 minutes can help to reduce tiredness. In case you were curious, chewing quickly and firmly does not affect your mood, but it may have a very minor effect on your level of attention. Additionally, chewing gum led to greater productivity and fewer errors made at work.
Get the munchies available because, for me, chewing gum also makes me hungry.
4. Sleep during a Break
The only real, long-lasting solution to surviving a night shift without sleep is to actually sleep…
I realize that’s not very helpful, especially if you struggle to get enough sleep during the day. But if you get the chance to sneak away somewhere during your break and take a nap, I advise you to take advantage of it.
A snooze lasting between five and fifteen minutes has been shown to have a nearly instantaneous impact that can last up to three hours. These little naps are exactly what you need because they boost focus and performance while reducing daytime tiredness.
It’s actually preferable if you don’t have time for lengthier naps than 30 minutes because these prolonged sleeps may cause you to feel sleepy or inert for a short time after awakening. Nevertheless, after a little while, this sensation does pass.
It has been demonstrated that these extended naps will offer you an even greater energy boost, but most night shift employees find that they are unable to work without making mistakes while they wait for this “grogginess” to pass.
5. Go to bed in your automobile
If your automobile is parked outside the workplace, for some people, this could be a safety concern and is not advised. However, this might be a really pleasant choice if your automobile is parked in a secure area close to your place of employment.
