Three Tips for Coping With Nightshift
“My today was yesterday for you, today is tomorrow for me and when you say tomorrow it feels at least two days from now. And I never know what day of the week it is.”
Night shifts suck.
There’s really no nicer way to put it. I worked a swing shift job in a factory for many years and it was hard.
According to Webster's dictionary, Normal is the usual, average, or typical state of a condition.
For the swing shifter normal is chaos (see chaos: complete disorder or confusion). It’s only funny because it’s painfully true.
For swing shift workers the usual or typical state is disorder and confusion.
Just let that sink in for a minute.
This world isn’t built for the night shift. Construction happens during the day. Do you know what’s really noisy? Construction. Kids still have needs during the day whether it’s getting to school or feeding them during off days. And if they are younger you definitely need a babysitter. And it’s really not fair to ask your family to creep around the house so quietly that they feel like fugitives in their own home. Plus naturally, your body wants to be awake when the sun is up, it's like ancient instincts or something.
While it's not an ideal lifestyle, it’s one some people end up having to do.
I’ve learned some solid tips for having to cope with the dreaded swing.
This is by no means a be-all and end-all bible; It’s more about damage control… or survival if we’re being honest.
Three Tips for Coping With Nightshift:
First and foremost, set a schedule and stay on it the best you can. The rule of thumb for jet lag is that it will take one day per time zone crossed to feel normal in your new location. So translate that into a 12-hour swing, you’re looking at 12 days between day shift and nights. And that’s only if you stay on schedule. I know you want to switch back to being on the “normal” schedule to be with your family and friends, but for your benefit and everyone else's, don’t. A tired person is an ass hole, promise.
The next most important thing is room darkening shades. The sun is a straight M’Fer when you're living the vampire life. And room darkening shades help block out the sun almost completely. If you don’t have those shades, the basement (if it’s not too creepy) can be a great place to crash too. Plus it's probably cooler which is always good for sleeping.
Be nice to yourself. It’s going to be tough. Night shift depression is real and you have to take care of yourself. Sticking to a schedule helps a ton, but so does giving yourself some grace. Just because you’re not at work during the day doesn’t mean the lawn absolutely needs to get mowed. I know it doesn’t feel right but hey, you’re on nights. You just aren’t going to have the same motivation or energy to do things and that's ok. Forcing yourself to do tasks that you know you’ll end up half assing is a good way to feed into that night shift depression. Asking for help from your spouse or kids to get things done is perfectly acceptable.
It’s 2022 anyway, equal household/outdoor chores and whatnot.
Nights and swing shifts are brutal on the mind and body.
It’s important you know it’s not just another shift or that it’ll just be a long day. Mentally and physically it's the opposite of what your body has taken 300,000 years to evolve to. Stick to as strict of a schedule as possible, get it as dark as possible, and give yourself room to be a bit of a sloth.
And if at all possible, avoid the night shift altogether.
