How to Work the Third Shift and Stay Healthy

Tips on Sleep, Nutrition and At-Work Activities

-- By Liz Noelcke, Staff Writer

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The third shift. Unavoidable for some. Dreaded by many. At a time when it’s difficult just to stay awake, you are expected to function at a reasonable level. Unfortunately, laboring through the night can wreak havoc on your body, weakening your immune system and causing a destructive decrease in energy. It’s difficult for the body’s internal clock to adapt to shift work, and laboring through the night often causes insomnia and indigestion. It becomes even trickier if you have to switch between day and night shifts. So, if you are one of the millions of people that work the third shift, check out our healthy tips to combat the damage it can do to your body.

Sleep
It’s often the hardest element to "get right" if you are working late. Your body is ready to crash halfway through the shift, but when you return home your family is up and about. Spending quality time with them often stands in the way of enough sleep, and it’s almost impossible to choose between the two. What can you do?

Sleep is one of the most important gifts you can give your body. But you are fighting your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle by staying up through the night, and sleep loss can be dangerous. Even if you are sleeping during the day instead of the night, you still need an average of eight hours to keep your body functioning properly. It’s important to make this a continuous eight hours, too.

Often, third shift workers break up their sleep in order to spend more time with loved ones and do activities that they enjoy. Of course, this is key to a happy life and positive relationships, but it keeps your body from going through the proper sleep cycles, rotating from light to deep sleep. If you are sleeping for a few hours in the morning and then an hour or so before work, your body will not be rested enough and ready for the next shift.

Sure, it’s easy to talk about being well rested, but when it comes down to actually doing it, it's easier said than done. Even if you are good about laying down into bed to catch some zzz’s, your environment, from your kids are bouncing around outside your door to your neighbor cutting grass might stand in the way.

Here are some ideas on how to fall asleep quickly and soundly:

Have a sleep ritual. Go to sleep as soon as you can after work. Don't get caught up in chores, errands, and scheduling. Save this for later when you can devote your full attention to them. Come home from work, relax in the bath with a book, and then hit the hay.
If you are exposed to a lot of sunlight right after work, your body will perk up and make sleep difficult. Don’t stay outside longer than necessary before bed and make your room as dark as possible, even if you must resort to blinds, curtains, or a sleep mask.
To keep disturbing noise to a minimum, invest in a good set of ear plugs. Unplug the phone in your room. Talk to your family members about taking extra care to be quiet.
Avoid the overuse of sleep aids. Sure, they can be a temporary solution, but in the long run they could cover up a larger problem. They are not actually helping your body clock to adjust, so talk to your doctor before using these. (Same goes for alcohol. It might make you sleep faster, but you won’t sleep as soundly.)
Avoid caffeine. It might help you make it through your shift, but if you drink coffee too close to bedtime, you’ll have a terrible time trying to fall asleep.

Nutrition
Eating healthy when your timetable seems so backwards is difficult. To maintain a nourishing diet, it’s vital to adjust your meal routine around your schedule. Do not skip meals. To avoid pumping in empty calories from vending machines or fast food, plan ahead. It is easy to eat to pass the time, but you’ll gain weight this way. Bring a healthy meal with you to work.

Here are more nutritional tips:

Don’t eat a huge meal right at the end of your shift. It will just sit in your stomach as you try to sleep, leading to trouble digesting as well as disrupted slumber. Your body will have difficulty burning these extra calories and they can turn to fat.
Drink plenty of water throughout your shift. Dehydration can cause cramps and headaches, which can make your shift very unpleasant.
Fuel up on complex carbs; these will release energy slowly over a long period of time, versus quick sugar bursts that won't last too long. Also, protein will fuel your muscles throughout the night.
Time your meals and activities to match your "day."

It might seem like survival of the fittest. You are falling asleep standing one night, while your co-worker trots cheerily along. What gives? What is he doing that’s making him better equipped to handle the third shift? It probably has less to do with superhuman powers than you might think.

Here are some tricks that will make the time go by more easily:

On-the-job exercise can boost your alertness. If you have an extra break where you can get in a few minutes of a good workout, take advantage! If you can’t exercise at work, try doing it at other times. This will create better daytime sleep. A word of caution: Don’t work out right after you get home, before going to sleep. It will wake you up and make snoozing difficult. Try working out before you go to work instead.
Exposure to bright light will also improve your alertness. Obviously, if it’s dark out, this can’t come from a natural source. Turn on the lights!
Music helps to break up the monotony of a long shift. If you are allowed, bring in your own music. Use fast-paced sounds to pump you up when you are dragging towards the end of the shift.
Missing your family? Include scheduled time when you can call them, maybe right when they get up in the morning or before their bedtimes. Also, try keeping a bulletin board in your house where you can leave or receive messages. Write them notes, and they’ll return the favor.

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About The Author

Liz Noelcke
Liz is a journalist who often writes about health and fitness topics.

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Member Comments

JGMARIE80

I work 3 to 4 12 hour shifts ( 7 pm-7am) each week. I usually get 4 hours sleep after work. I usually work on Mondays, Wednesdays , Fridays, and Saturdays. Every Saturday morning, I have to take a sleep aid so I can get 6 hours of sleep prior to working a Saturday night shift. I get very cranky when I don't get my 6 hours, then I get very sleepy by 3 a.m. I take my break at that time and I go up and down the stairs for 15-20 minutes. It usually perks me up then. I have no problem sleeping on my days off. When I feel sleepy, I stop what I'm doing and take long naps. I don't force myself to sleep because I will just toss and turn and not get any rest. I'm usually alone in the daytime-- my hubby is at work, and my son is in school. The dog-- I have to walk with him or he will be barking all day. - 3/11/2013 4:02:28 PM
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LUES408

I have been reading some of the articles in here and one thing that is most common is that most of you wake up at 3 or 4pm. I work the 3rd shift (11pm-07am) and I find it difficult to workout. The eating part I can manage but working out is the hardest. A normal day for is getting off work at 7am, going to bed at 730-745am, going to pick up my boy from preschool at 1230, napping with him from 230-5pm and then going to bed at 8 or 830pm to 10pm to start the day again. No wonder I feel so exhausted. I have done this for 3 years now but it seems that it’s getting harder on my body now. No wonder I don’t want another child  it’s so difficult and with today’s economy it’s too much. I feel better now that I wrote this down for the time being. The schedule is hard but I love the time I spend with my family. - 10/3/2012 5:50:05 AM
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JOE_PUBLIC_999

Go to sleep right after work? No, that sucks.

Day shift comes home after work, stays up, goes to bed later, gets up in the morning to go to work.

I work 3rd, and I try to mimic that as best as I can. I go home and do whatever anyone else might do in their evening, then I go to bed around 2pm, and then get up in time to get ready to go to work.

My main problem is that I have to shift every week back and forth between being up at night and sleeping in the day for work, and then being up during the day and sleeping at night for my days off, since thats the only time I can spend with my son, and I'm not going to keep him up at night. - 9/22/2012 2:16:34 AM
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MADMOM10

thanks for some of the great advise given from this article. i hope to apply these tips to my daily schedule. - 8/16/2012 6:24:13 PM
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KATRINABFREE

I work from 10pm-6am at a state prison. It's very hard to find a balance between exercise; and a semi healthy diet. What I found to that helps me maintain or lose weight is.

Bed time around 730am no breakfast
wake-up around 330-430 depending
Dinner around 645 with a meat, veggie, brown rice, or whole wheat bread if possible
snack around 11 possible a banana or peanut butter crackers
meal around 115. Either left over from dinner or a healthy choice steamers, yogurt, or fruit. Try to stay away from high fat t.v dinners, or high fat meals. To drink a 20oz powerade for energy i normally sweat a lot to help replace minerals
snack around 330-4 something random beef jerkey; turkey jerkey or something along those lines.

I take 3 bottles of spring water with me, along with a 20-32oz powerade with me. I normally don't get breakfast unless it's my weekend my days off are Sunday/ Monday. That's becasue on Sundays I normally attend church so i eat something to help me though when I would normally be sleeping. I try to stay away from fast food breakfast. NO CAFFEINE WHILE AT WORK. Or if I need caffeine a small 12oz can around 10 while waiting to go in. - 7/17/2012 6:34:53 AM
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OWNINGMYLIFE

p.s. - going for a quick run or a walk within an hour of waking is the only way i can get exercise in. It's too easy to skip it once everybody starts returning home from their regular dayshift! Plus, the dog really likes me again. - 6/13/2012 7:51:57 AM
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OWNINGMYLIFE

I work 10p-6a. I usually get 6.5 to 8 hours sleep. When I awaken in the afternoon, I make coffee (it is my morning..) and have a regular breakfast. I do make dinner for the house so I eat my main meal (dinner) with the roommate, usually about 8 or so. Then I bring to work lots of healthy snacks and I eat every 2 hours. i bank my calories so that I can have a snack like fat free cottage cheese, or string cheese and celery. or stuffed celery, hummus with carrots etc. I eat my lunch about 3:30 (still following sparks plan) and then I have another snack of cereal and skim milk. I just can't sleep on a really empty stomach. Before Sparks, i was eating 4 meals! So yeah, that's how I got fat on the night shift. 20 lb gain in 2 years, when I was already overweight. I firmly believe sleep and at my age, hormonal balance plus not having the big meal during my shift is helping me to gain more balance. - 6/13/2012 7:50:02 AM
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TIMOTHYNOHE

I worked third shift for nearly two and a half years. My biggest problem was the weekends. I would try to live like regular people over the weekend and at least once a month I would be hit with migraines. It was miserable. This was before there was any effective medicine for migraines. The best thing out there was Anaicin which was basically aspirin and caffeine. Not rotating on weekends was not always an option either as I was in the Air National Guard and had Guard weekend once a month.

- 5/18/2012 3:19:37 PM
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JILLITA55

I used to work on the night shift. It took quite awile to get used to it. - 4/16/2012 3:08:48 PM
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MORYNIAK

For almost a year, I've been working the 3rd shift (9pm-7am), Saturday-Tuesday nights. I also have a 4 year old and 2 year old at home. I try to eat nutritious snacks (i.e. fruit, veggies, yogurt, rice cakes) at work and drink lots of water. However, when I arrive at home around 7:30am, I cannot go to sleep since my husband leaves for work and I must care for our sons. I started working the overnight shift since our parents were unable to take care of the boys during the day any longer and my oldest goes to preschool so we had no one to transport him from day care to elementary school. I sleep for 4 hours when my husband arrives home from work, but am awake for 20 hours between waking up for work and my husband coming home the next day. I recently joined a gym and work out on my days off and in the mornings on the days that I do work at night. I have more energy and have lost some weight. - 4/12/2012 10:26:20 PM
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JODIANPEART07

I work at night like u fibre people and when I get home from my 11 pm - 7am shift I make the biggest breakfast and then go to sleep. It is not a good habit, but I will try to control myself and wait until I wake up from my sleep to eat. I. thebest way to control my diet is to have some kind of organization in my life and understand the needs that I need met as well as my families needs. - 1/6/2012 2:32:03 AM
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CHRIS3874

Wished I could have seen this 11 years ago when I went to the high arctic to work at a weather station. We had 2 10 3/4 hr rotating shifts (12:45 am to 11:30 and 11:30 to 9:15 pm) I drank probably too much coffee and definitely ATE WAY too much and did not exercise much . - 6/2/2011 9:01:12 PM
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CAT402

I just started third shift and I am adapting very well. I too was concerned about my eating habits though and how to continue to recoed them in my daily meal plan. I agree with skip-side and lefthandedblonde. If you are truly a third shifter it is very difficult to go straight home and fall a sleep. Just as it is for a 1st shifter whom I doubt goes right to bed when they get home. I think of my meals as the exact opposite of a day timers meals but I don't know the cut-off for meals. Typically they say not to eat after 8PM and some say 7 PM. I work 11P - 7A
I have a cup of coffee when I wake about 10P and I bring a healthy choice meal or left-overs to work and typically eat between 1-2 AM and then will have a soda. I bring a yogurt or fruit and a bottle of o.j. which consume between 4-5A. Once I arrive home about 7:30 I make breakfast for my son before he heads off for school. I then have lunch at about noon or 1PM and I go to bed by 3-4P and sleep till 9 or 10P.
I exercise either when I get home or after breakfast. I haven't mastered recording my meals accurately yet because i'm unsure if my meal at work is dinner of my breakfast I make with my son. So at this point I am recording them according to what it is. breakfast foods is breakfast, lunch at home is lunch and my work meal I consider dinner.
I hope if there are any pointers out there that you will forward them to me and good luck to all you trying to master the third shift life. Btw, I also keep my schedule on weekends and days off. I am a night owl thru and thru now! - 1/25/2011 5:19:38 AM
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DONNALT9229

I work 12 hour shifts also. For tracking my food, I start from the time I get up, & ends when I go to bed. Sometimes, I get a day behind on tracking, but I just click back to the right date, & add it in later. I keep the same routine on my days off, so its not so hard. - 1/20/2011 5:38:22 AM
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ANGELAHARTLE

I work as a sleep tech and work 7:30p to 7:30a. I totally agree with those of you who go straight home after work brush teeth and go to bed. It is EXCELLENT sleep habits. Just had to say that and give you a huge thumbs up!

My main question is how do you track your food on days that you flip your schedule? I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Sometimes I get a nap Friday before work sometimes I don't. I typically try to stay up Monday after getting off work till 6pm then crash. So when you are tracking your food and your calories... what do you do??? I mean because technically you are up for 24 hours, Do you still follow the 1300 calories or do you draw a line at midnight?? Anyone have any advice? - 1/17/2011 6:21:54 PM
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