TurkeyOnRye
Well-Known Member
I’ve read a lot of articles and watched a lot of videos on the internet that provide advice to people working night shift. Most of them provided practical advice, but the commonality among them is that they lack emphasis where it really counts. Hopefully this thread can help disperse some helpful information and points of view to prospecting night shift workers. And of course, if anyone has any insights of their own, please share below. 
I graduated from a degree program June of last year and shortly afterward got a job in my field at the largest health and clinical research center in the state. Despite my severe reservations, I accepted a night shift position on the premise that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Since then, I have been tolerating a night shift sleep/wake cycle, and through some trial and error, have managed to optimize my daily routine to ensure that I’m getting quality sleep and not succumbing to any serious mood disorders in the process.
The only people who take night shift lightly are those who’ve never done it, or the rare breed of individuals who are somehow physiologically adapted to it. I have a co-worker who was born in Alaska, and she suggested to me that growing up in a region with a day/night cycle of such a high latitude region better allows her to cope with sleeping during the day. Despite that, she, myself, and most everyone I have spoken with report a series of common issues. It takes longer to get to sleep. Sleep is lighter. And once awoken, it is often difficult to get back to sleep. Your body will naturally gravitate to wanting to sleep at night and stay awake during the day (a consequence of thousands of years of evolution no doubt). Thus it is a constant balancing act. But if you can balance it properly, you can manage quite well.
There are 4 key considerations to help ensure a restful sleep during the day. Each of these four considerations revolve around the concept of CONTROLLING variables in your bedroom. Light, sound, temperature, and timing. If you have a high degree of control over these four things, you’re in great shape.
Unfortunately, when sleeping on a night shift schedule, light is your enemy. At least in the hours immediately prior and during sleep. For most bedrooms, the main source of light entering the room is the window. Now when I say you need to control the light, I mean it. Your bedroom should be as dark as a cave on a cloudy moonless night on Pluto. Do not let even a single particle of light pass through your window. To drive this point home, consider the fact that our bodies are highly photosensitive, and light regulates our circadian rhythm. Furthermore, you don’t even have to SEE the light for it to wake you up. Exposure to the skin is enough, and even a little bit will do the trick. “Good enough” is not good enough here. Your bedroom must be a blackhole.
So-called “black-out” curtains are helpful, but they leak heavily around the edges. To properly quench all light entering the room, I recommend using heavy-duty aluminum foil to cover the windows. Aluminum foil is cheap, completely opaque, and can be cut and molded to fit any window. Use black masking tape to seal the edges, as duct tape and other highly-sticky adhesives will peel off paint if you have to cover molding. Getting black (as opposed to white) tape ensures that no light will penetrate it. Light behaves much like water in many ways, and you may find that completely snuffing it out is actually more of a task than you think. It’s all an investment though. You will rely on your light blocker day-after-day, so it’s in your best interest to do a good job.
If you want to escalate things to the next level, I suggest purchasing a wake-up lamp. Rather than waking you with an irritating noise, wake-up lamps will gradually wake you over 30 minutes or so with increasing light output. I use a Philips HF3520 Wake-Up Light. They’re a bit spendy; mine was $94 or so, but it’s been a great investment.
Sound is a much more difficult variable to control for certain people. If you live in an apartment complex, you’re more-or-less at the mercy of the courtesy of your neighbors and how much they’re willing to accommodate your needs during non-quiet hours. Be sure to speak with your landlord and refer to your lease to get a better understanding of how much quiet you can reasonably demand per policy. Carefully examine which part of the day is quietest, and consider using that as your designated sleep window.
In general, a cool room is best for sleeping. During extreme weather, it will be critical to tightly control the temperature in your bedroom, and ensure you have a “set-it-and-forget-it” method of doing so. If you’re getting up multiple times per night turning your heater or AC on and off, you will suffer. And because you’re on night shift, that suffering will compound. If your heater or AC units don’t have built-in thermostats, you can buy them online for about $15. They will automatically cut or supply power to your unit to automatically adjust ambient temperature within a degree or so.
Routinizing your sleeping pattern is just as important as any other detail. We all know that getting to bed at the same time every night is important for ensuring a fast restful sleep, but when we’re sleeping during the day as a night shift worker, it’s even more critical. Tighten your sleep window as much as possible. If at all possible, hit the pillow at the same time each day plus or minus 10 minutes, and you will derive about as much benefit as you can. It really does make a difference.
That’s about all I have for now. I will make edits or follow-up posts if I think of anything else, but as I stated before, please post any helpful advice below! Are you a night shift worker? What do you do to stay on track and ensure you are ready for the day?
I graduated from a degree program June of last year and shortly afterward got a job in my field at the largest health and clinical research center in the state. Despite my severe reservations, I accepted a night shift position on the premise that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Since then, I have been tolerating a night shift sleep/wake cycle, and through some trial and error, have managed to optimize my daily routine to ensure that I’m getting quality sleep and not succumbing to any serious mood disorders in the process.
The only people who take night shift lightly are those who’ve never done it, or the rare breed of individuals who are somehow physiologically adapted to it. I have a co-worker who was born in Alaska, and she suggested to me that growing up in a region with a day/night cycle of such a high latitude region better allows her to cope with sleeping during the day. Despite that, she, myself, and most everyone I have spoken with report a series of common issues. It takes longer to get to sleep. Sleep is lighter. And once awoken, it is often difficult to get back to sleep. Your body will naturally gravitate to wanting to sleep at night and stay awake during the day (a consequence of thousands of years of evolution no doubt). Thus it is a constant balancing act. But if you can balance it properly, you can manage quite well.
There are 4 key considerations to help ensure a restful sleep during the day. Each of these four considerations revolve around the concept of CONTROLLING variables in your bedroom. Light, sound, temperature, and timing. If you have a high degree of control over these four things, you’re in great shape.
Unfortunately, when sleeping on a night shift schedule, light is your enemy. At least in the hours immediately prior and during sleep. For most bedrooms, the main source of light entering the room is the window. Now when I say you need to control the light, I mean it. Your bedroom should be as dark as a cave on a cloudy moonless night on Pluto. Do not let even a single particle of light pass through your window. To drive this point home, consider the fact that our bodies are highly photosensitive, and light regulates our circadian rhythm. Furthermore, you don’t even have to SEE the light for it to wake you up. Exposure to the skin is enough, and even a little bit will do the trick. “Good enough” is not good enough here. Your bedroom must be a blackhole.
So-called “black-out” curtains are helpful, but they leak heavily around the edges. To properly quench all light entering the room, I recommend using heavy-duty aluminum foil to cover the windows. Aluminum foil is cheap, completely opaque, and can be cut and molded to fit any window. Use black masking tape to seal the edges, as duct tape and other highly-sticky adhesives will peel off paint if you have to cover molding. Getting black (as opposed to white) tape ensures that no light will penetrate it. Light behaves much like water in many ways, and you may find that completely snuffing it out is actually more of a task than you think. It’s all an investment though. You will rely on your light blocker day-after-day, so it’s in your best interest to do a good job.
If you want to escalate things to the next level, I suggest purchasing a wake-up lamp. Rather than waking you with an irritating noise, wake-up lamps will gradually wake you over 30 minutes or so with increasing light output. I use a Philips HF3520 Wake-Up Light. They’re a bit spendy; mine was $94 or so, but it’s been a great investment.
Sound is a much more difficult variable to control for certain people. If you live in an apartment complex, you’re more-or-less at the mercy of the courtesy of your neighbors and how much they’re willing to accommodate your needs during non-quiet hours. Be sure to speak with your landlord and refer to your lease to get a better understanding of how much quiet you can reasonably demand per policy. Carefully examine which part of the day is quietest, and consider using that as your designated sleep window.
In general, a cool room is best for sleeping. During extreme weather, it will be critical to tightly control the temperature in your bedroom, and ensure you have a “set-it-and-forget-it” method of doing so. If you’re getting up multiple times per night turning your heater or AC on and off, you will suffer. And because you’re on night shift, that suffering will compound. If your heater or AC units don’t have built-in thermostats, you can buy them online for about $15. They will automatically cut or supply power to your unit to automatically adjust ambient temperature within a degree or so.
Routinizing your sleeping pattern is just as important as any other detail. We all know that getting to bed at the same time every night is important for ensuring a fast restful sleep, but when we’re sleeping during the day as a night shift worker, it’s even more critical. Tighten your sleep window as much as possible. If at all possible, hit the pillow at the same time each day plus or minus 10 minutes, and you will derive about as much benefit as you can. It really does make a difference.
That’s about all I have for now. I will make edits or follow-up posts if I think of anything else, but as I stated before, please post any helpful advice below! Are you a night shift worker? What do you do to stay on track and ensure you are ready for the day?
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