Contents:
- Medical Video: Night Shifts Problems And Night Shift Health Tips You Must Know
- Tips for maintaining health during night shift work
- 1. Adjust sleep patterns
- 2. Adjust healthy eating patterns
- 3. Take a nap
- 4. Set your shift schedule
- 5. Limit coffee consumption
Medical Video: Night Shifts Problems And Night Shift Health Tips You Must Know
Sometimes your profession demands for night shift work such as doctors, nurses, flight attendants, pilots, drivers, factory employees, journalists, printing staff, security officers, or 24-hour shopkeepers. According to the National Sleep Foundation, working time is often associated with a number of health problems such as increased risk of metabolic problems, heart disease, digestive disorders, obesity, and cancer.
Night shift work can also interfere with the body's ability to repair DNA damage. In addition, melatonin levels in the body also decrease, this is a hormone that is responsible for regulating the body's biological clock.
However, you can still maintain your body's health during night shift work by making several lifestyle changes. Here are tips for maintaining health during your night shift work.
Tips for maintaining health during night shift work
Everyone has a different way to go through night shift work. Now, applying the following strategies can help you overcome health or mental problems when working the night shift and make sure you stay well enough.
1. Adjust sleep patterns
Night shift work keeps you awake at night. Even though at night, the body releases the hormone melatonin, which makes you sleepy and less alert. Because, indeed your body is designed to sleep at night.
Adults usually need to sleep between 7-9 hours every night. Less than that, you will experience "sleep debt." The only way to repay sleep debt is to pursue the sleep you miss, and this should be done as soon as possible.
Try these steps to maintain your sleep pattern:
- Don't delay sleep. If you have time and are sleepy, go to sleep immediately.
- Take about 7 to 9 hours to sleep after night shift work.
- Eat and drink before going to bed, because for some people hunger or thirst can make you sleep badly.
- Don't drink alcohol before going to bed. Alcohol can reduce the quality of sleep and disrupt the stage of sleep, which will make you feel refreshed the next day.
- Don't smoke before going to bed. Nicotine is a stimulant that causes you to have trouble sleeping.
- Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and cool. Use earplugs to block out noise during the day and install dark curtains to prevent sunlight from entering the room.
- Tell your friends and family about your working hours so they don't interfere with your hours of sleep.
2. Adjust healthy eating patterns
Someone who works at night shifts tends to experience metabolic syndrome and has an increased risk of obesity due to poor diet and disturbance of the body's biological clock.
Planning a diet can help you stay healthy during night shift work and relax more when you need to sleep. Here are some ways you can do it.
- Keep eating with the same diet as during the day.
- Often eat healthy snacks to avoid drowsiness due to satiety.
- Choose easy-to-digest foods such as bread, rice, pasta, salads, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables.
- Avoid foods that are difficult to digest such as fried foods, spicy foods, and processed foods.
- Avoid sweet foods. Although sweet foods can provide energy, but this can also reduce energy quickly.
- Make fruits and vegetables a snack. Sugar from fruits and vegetables is converted slowly into energy and both are important sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
- Drink enough when you are working to maintain physical and mental performance, but do not hold back urination before going to bed.
3. Take a nap
Napping is an important thing to do for night shift work. While taking a nap before you start working hours can help overcome fatigue. Resting time during work is important to keep your body healthy.
Napping has been shown to increase and restore brain power. Sleeping for at least 45 minutes at rest from work will make you more refreshed. Even a nap for 20-45 minutes has also proven beneficial for shift workers to relieve fatigue.
Ideally, napping should not exceed 45 minutes for maximum benefit. More than that, you might wake up dizzy or irritable.
4. Set your shift schedule
Maybe in some workplaces, the shift schedule has been determined by the company. However, some others may be your own choice.
If you can determine your work shift schedule. Try not to work the night shift in a row. You may become less sleepy for a few nights at work. You are more likely to recover if you can limit the night shift and schedule holidays in between.
5. Limit coffee consumption
Caffeine is a stimulant. Most people drink coffee to start their working day. When you consume coffee according to a daily dose or not excessive, this will help you stay awake during night shift work.
However, if you consume caffeine or coffee excessively, it can cause indigestion and muscle spasms.
Consumption of coffee should be stopped about 6 hours before bedtime to ensure that stimulants do not affect your sleep.
