I have been a master of doing ‘Night Shifts’ and by all the power vested in me by the Universe, I can comment on this topic very well, I hope.
Note: All the points said in this post are from my personal experience. Try at your own risk.
- Over eating: Believe me on this one. This one’s coming straight from the mouth of an extreme foodie who over eats. Yes from the 90 Kg obese girl for who love is defined by what’s on her plate. Over eating during night shift makes you feel sleepy and then it is difficult to concentrate on the work allocated. You may also feel a little irritated as you don’t get to sleep.
- Caffeinated drink: People usually say coffee and tea keeps you awake at night and all of that, but technically any caffeinated drink keeps you dehydrated and believe me all the liquid intake your body needs is water. Caffeinated drinks won’t make you feel better.
- Carbs: Not something that suits a Bengali girl to say, but avoiding rice or roti is better during night shifts. These foods will certainly bring the lazy animal in you which aren’t that sensible if you do a graveyard shift at work.
- Listening to Old Hindi Soothing music: I love Kishore Kumar and Mohd. Rafi’s era music and I can listen to them all day long. However, if I take a mini-break to refresh myself, the best thing to do is avoid listening to soothing music, because I will 100% go to sleep and then waking me up is a task that only my mother can do.
- Mobile phones: Using phone during night shift is okay. But being on the phone constantly after your shift is over is really a bad choice. I waste almost 3 hours of my precious sleep time just by scrolling down on the facebook feed.
- Not drinking water: Someone like me who doesn’t drink water should be punished. Doing night shift isn’t an easy task and being dehydrated is worse. Drinking water is the most important thing, especially during night shifts as it will keep you full and you won’t feel that unnecessary urge to eat something, anything.
- Skipping sleep: I don’t know much about day shift people, but for night shift people, I can say skipping the sleep in between shifts is the worse decision. In the night, naturally your body would want to rest if you haven’t taken your regular sleep/naps. This could cost you your job.
Hats off to all the people who do Night Shifts as it ain’t an easy task to be awake when the world’s sleeping and sleep when the world is making noise, without considering that there could be some people who might be sleeping at the time they decide to do all the heavy noise making chores. Anyway, thanks to the extra power we night-shift people have of ignoring all the unnecessary noises and sleep peacefully under any circumstances.
Have a great shift people!!!
The Chaotic Soul 