Working unregular hours - tips on food and sleep ?

[Achten]

Hi everybody,

this question isn't really related to drugs but more to the kind of work I do.

I am 29 yo and work as a train manager which means I have to work extremely unregular hours.
Earliest I start for work is 3 am (which means getting up at 1am), latest I start is 5 pm (I try to get up at 8-9am , 10am at max).
It alternates constantly, the only rule being that between the end of a shift and the beginning of the next should be 14 hours.

My question involves how to regulate my sleep pattern and diet. I try to sleep at least 6hours and max 9 hours a night. Most of the time it's 6, sometimes 4.5.

Every morning I get up, regardless what time, I drink a glass of water and do some 15minute yoga, after which I eat breakfast. 6-7 hours later I eat my lunch, and 6-7 hours later still I have dinner.

Colleagues tell me it's best to eat at regular times, and it sounds logical (circadian rythm and all). But that would mean not eating the first 5 hours when working an early shift. Doesn't sound ideal to me.

Also, a common illnes with people working lots of early shifts is sleep apnea. Definetly want to avoid that.

Any BLers that have tips regarding this situation ?

For those interested:
Breakfast is regularly coconut milk with hemp-seed powder, a banana or an egg. Sometimes bread.
Lunch is always a portion of fruit or vegetables with oatmeal, mix of nuts, chia seed, cacao pieces, linseed and goji berries.
Depending on how many hours are between dinner and sleep it's a soup with bread or meat (mostly chicken or turkey) with vegetables.

Thanks for reading.

 

[ethnocat55]

G,day Achten,
I wish I had lots of positive ideas to pass on to you re being a shift worker, but unfortunately I dont. Until recently I was a shift worker and quite honestly I never found a way to do that kind of work and feel healthy. For me, sleeping was a big problem especially when getting up super early. This in turn over a period of time affected my energy levels which just kept getting lower. I suppose if I could advise one thing, its that you need to be on top of it from the start, i.e. eat well and exercise and keep it up. There are lots of legal herbs for energy that you might consider adding to your diet, and frankly I wish that I had. Best of luck.

 

[Trying2Iso]

Use caffeine to wake up and melatonin to reset your sleep cycle whenever you want. If you only use caffeine when you need it you can keep your tolerance down so it works when you need it to. When melatonin isn't enough, try diphenhydramine i've found great success with it.
It is better to eat 6 small meals a day than 3 larger ones.

 

[d-nihl]

wow sounds to me that despite the odd hours you live a very healthy life style, so much in fact so, I wouldn't even kill yourself over it dude. I would even give yourself a pat on the back for doing so good. I mean theres always room for improvement, which you clearly want to achieve, but don't forget to step back every once in a while and give yourself a pat on the back!

I worked a night shift 4 times a week, I believe 10 pm to 6 am, and lemme tell you all I did was sleep during the day, and do drugs at work/off times. I think it was the un healthiest ive ever been. this was a couple years back though, I think I recovered, then slipped back in, having a pretty good go at it again at the moment actually, in terms of sobriety.

 

[Achten]

Thanks for the replies and the encouragement !

Regarding the caffeine comment : I don't need something to wake me up, the glass of water does the trick . I once drank a redbull while on a shift (I don't drink coffee) and I had regrets immediatly after. I like a good sugar rush once in a while but that's insane . Also I don't really have problems falling asleep, although I regularly fall asleep on the coach watching TV, before moving to bed.
I have noticed 6 smaller means is better than 3 large ones.

I worked in hotels before this job and back then I didn't mind about diet or sleep. I was also at my unhealthiest back then. That's where my motivation comes from now, I never want to feel so drained again.

I was extremely and am still fairly addicted to sugar. Not during the day, but when I'm in front of the tv in the evening I regularly take a coca cola with some candy. What would be best to prevent this ? I have several supplements (hemp protien, pea protein, ..), usually used in the morning or before/after sports. Is something like this adequate to lessen my craving?