"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Notes from a Night Shift Worker

Life is always an adventure, and in the last year and a half, life had taken on a different turn.  I accepted a position that was sort of a second shift position and then was offered an opportunity to move to third shift.  There are a number of reasons I took it, and it has turned out to be a huge blessing for my husband and myself, but it also entails a huge change in lifestyle.  I have spent an amount of time talking with my coworkers who also are on this shift and I have come to some conclusions.

First of all, yes, I have heard from many that disrupting my circadian rhythm and living this sort of upside-down day may or may not be healthy for me.  Frankly, so is poverty!  LOL.  Just kidding but not exactly.  Honestly, there are generally shift differentials for night shift workers and it can really be worth your while to consider it.  So, I'm not going to exactly discuss the health issues because they may be valid, but I also know that it is possible to do things to care for myself that can mitigate some negatives.

I generally get home from work when my husband's alarm is going off, so we get some time together while he starts his day and I wind down.  This can be a very sweet time together and I cherish it.  I usually am asleep shortly after he leaves for work, and he gets home several hours before I have to leave for work, so we have a nice regular time together, which was a huge improvement over when I worked second shift. 

Sleep is an issue and needs to be guarded.  I now turn off the ringer on the phone most days, as telemarketers and others tend to call throughout the day.  I don't use blackout curtains, but I do dim the room.  Just my preference.  I want to wake up to see the daylight and get that encouragement to get up and going.  I don't seem to have a problem falling asleep in the light, so that is good, but dimming the room does help at times.  Just like the rest of the world, I do occasionally have issues with insomnia and it can easily become just as stressful for a night worker as it is for a day worker.  I have come up with some ways to cope:

• I listen to history documentaries as I try to relax and fall asleep.  It is just enough of interesting background to keep me from obsessing about the fact that I am not asleep and I have X number of hours before I have to get up again and then get a long day of work in.  It works for me.  I have also found some YouTube apps on mediation stories, which does the same for me.  Anything too exciting and I cannot shut down my brain from being very attentive, but without an interesting background and I start listing all the million and one things I could be doing but I need to sleep and what not.  
• I try to not stress about not being asleep.  I try to view it as "found time" and choose something enjoyable like reading a book, taking a bath, doing a little bit of puttering around.  I prefer to do something quiet, which will hopefully help to lead me to sleep, but sometimes, it just doesn't happen.  If I don't sleep, my body must know that I don't need it and I need to trust it.  
• The weekends are strange for me as I try to live life with my family who has a regular life schedule.  I often find that I wake up in the middle of the night and am simply wide awake.  Honestly, five a days a week this time is my most productive time of the day anyway.  So it makes sense that my body thinks that on the weekend as well.  I have found that it is less stressful to simply get up and do tasks that I want to do.  The quiet of the night in the house is a great time to organize my to-do list, to get some tasks done that don't rouse the household, to do writing, to do something until I feel like I am ready to settle into a cozy bed and read again, which generally leads me to sleep.  I also nap rather than try to push completely through or sleep all day, neither of which is ideal.  Some days on Saturday, I come home from work and simply stay up until I need to stop, and then find a two to three-hour nap is huge for letting me get through the rest of the day with my family.  Other Saturdays I come home and go to bed for a few hours, generally two to four, and then get up and do life with my family.  Nothing is idea overall, but it works.  I don't want to keep my weekday schedule as I would miss out on time with my husband, but I also have to accept that there are some compromises.  It works as long as I keep a flexible mindset.  As a matter of fact, as I write this, it is 2AM and I have done paperwork, organized the week's paperwork for filing or dealing with it, cleaned in the kitchen, cleaned the fish tank and am now writing this.  I can feel myself settling down after being up for a couple hours and will head to bed shortly.  
• I try to view sleep over a 24 hour period rather than an 8-hour direct stretch.  Naps can be acceptable for getting my body through life.  It may or may not be ideal, but it is what it is.  
• I have to keep my mind on the fact that this is a lifestyle that works for what I need at this point in my life.  I could not have done this when we had children at home or with different obligations.  But at this point, it works and is worthwhile.  I get daylight to work with my horses, doing my life at home and all those other things that non-night workers do in the evening.  But I get daylight, even in the winter, which is a plus!  LOL.

So, my suggestion if you also live this lifestyle is that you think about what you can do to make it work.  Calming teas are wonderful, helping to get my body cozy and ready for rest, finding things that help me to rest when I need to and keeping my mental mindset on the positive aspects makes a huge difference.  I choose things that make it work for me, and am always looking at what really works or might work better.  

If you love or know someone who works night shifts, I could make some suggestions.  Please feel free to call and invite them places in the times when you know they are generally up.  Please don't avoid them, as it can become very isolating at times since few live this lifestyle.  Remember that they put in their energy work while you are sleeping, so they are going to be sleeping while you are at work.  They aren't "sleeping the day away" or being lazy, it's just that their sleep times are different than yours.  Ask them what they prefer as far as socializing and being active in life and then target those times and things if it works for you as well.  They aren't avoiding you, they are just trying to balance.  In all likelihood, there will be times that they HAVE to do daytime appointments for a variety of things and will go without sleep because of the way life is.  This week I had three appointments in one day, all totally things I could not control or change, and so I got home from work, napped for an hour and a half, went to the first two appointments, went home and went to bed until it was time to get up for the third appointment.  Unfortunately, someone who KNEW that I was going to bed and what my day had been decided to call and confirm another appointment for the next week right in the middle of what could have been my largest chunk of connected sleep.  In the end, I got three hours total of sleep that day and then went to do a full shift that night.  I made it.  It wasn't as awful as it could have been, but then the next day I slept a solid ten hours.  It is what it is.  Now I turn off the ringer on the phone.  It was only frustrating because the person knew what my day was and that I was juggling the little bit of sleep, but they clearly didn't care.  I honestly am considering no longer going to that clinic just because of that alone.  

Overall, night shift is a challenge, but generally compensated so it is a viable choice for some, but it also is a complete lifestyle. I am blessed that my husband is supportive and understanding and watches for when I am pushing too hard.  If we couldn't be flexible with each other we simply would not be able to do it.  

So, I think I will end up talking about this later as I have found little support or information out there for night workers.  

On that note, I'm going to let my big dog in as she has been outside patrolling, make a cup of chamomile tea, and grab my book.  The warm bed sounds relaxing and wonderful finally and I'm looking forward to a lovely day tomorrow!

God bless!