How to survive night shift

Your question is self contradictory. I say that because working nigh shifts takes an extreme toll on the body and messes up your body chemistry. I worked night shifts for about six months and my health went downhill quite fast. Your eating and sleeping patterns will take a dip as well. Leading a healthy life style when you are on a night shift is quite impossible. When you sleep during the morning hours and work during the night hours, your entire system gets messed up. If you drink and smoke during this period then you are likely to cause far more damage to yourself.

Here are five tips for working night shifts in the BPO industry and leading a normal life:
1. Don't forget to eat and drink. When you are working in the outsourcing industry, it;s easy to forget to pay attention to the essential fuels that your body needs. Carry healthy snacks to work with you during your night shifts at the call center.

2. If you rotate shifts, rotate forward. In the event that your call center allows you to rotate shifts, always rotate forward. Move from nights to day shift and finally afternoons if at all possible. This will help to keep your body and mind more in sync through the shift change.

3. Plan time to spend with friends and family. Relationships with others are also an important part of your physical and mental health. You might be missing out on nightlife because of your work schedule, but that does not mean you cannot build and maintain personal relationships. During your time off, you can certainly find time to meet a friend for breakfast or lunch or even take a vacation. If you make a set plan with friends and family, it is easier to make sure that you get enough quality time with them. Planning ahead will also ease your feelings of isolation and give you fun things to look forward to enjoying.

4. Set a sleep schedule and stick to it. When you are away from your outsourcing job, you need to follow a set schedule just like you would if you were working the day shift. Choose a time of day that you want to sleep and stick to it. If you go right to sleep when you get off, there will still be time to take care of errands during business hours when you wake up. Likewise, if you stay awake when you get off, you can run errands and take care of business before you go to sleep in the afternoon. The important thing is to be consistent. Consistency will help you get a full eight hours of sleep before you return to the call center.

5. Be conscious about fitness. Working night shift can take a toll on the employees physical and mental well being- unless you take measures to incorporate healthy living into your lifestyle. Just because you are working nights in a call center does not mean that your physical and mental well being should be neglected. There are many 24-hour fitness centers that will allow you to exercise and stay in shape.

hi Aruna ,

i can understand your plight as my brother lives a similar life too . nite shift bring along a lot of health problems like # Increased heart disease .Gastric ulcers and gastro intestinal problems . Social problems and minor psychiatric disorders, Sleep disorders and increased fatigue, Increased error rates and accident rates. it becomes hhard to cope up with the work life , u wrk while every one is deep in sleep and while other are out there enjoying their day , all you do is sleep . the eating times get horrible to. here are some tips on wht you can do to enjoy gud healtrh along with your work.

- eat your dinner, before the shift begins , at 7 or 8 pm rather than late at night when it is almost 12.
- Many people avoid eating as they do not want to feel too full or lazy at work. In such a case, you can choose on lite foods like idli chutney , besan cheela, poha or upama, brown rice or a brown bread sandwich, see there are many lite foods , so dunt avoid food completely.

- have plenty of water, and dont get into a habit of drinking tpoo much tea or coffee to stay awake at work , choose vegetable soups , fruit juices or cocnut water , trust me anything hot would have a similar kind off effect.

- digestion is something which really gets bad with the passing day , so you can take up on drinking luke warm lemon water before and after your meals , this will aid in digestion.

- exercise is the key .. it gets all the wrong done to it corrected .. so try to exercise whenever u get time, just go for it .

- avoid all acidity provoking foods like maida stuff , fried items, cigaretts , alcohol colas and fries. seriously it never was gud during the day .. and definately nt in the night !

- whenever you feel hungry , dunt grab fast foods , you can keep some healthy food handy as in your purse or drawer , keep oats biscuits , fruits , roasted channa, roasted soyabean , and grab a bite whenever hungry.