Tips and Tricks for Night Shift Workers

How to brave the midnight hour, while staying sharp and productive

Katie Churchward
ILLUMINATION
Published in
6 min readMar 3, 2022

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Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash

In all honesty, this could apply to any night shift worker but also any night owls looking to flip their schedules.

For context, I work shift work in a predominantly 12-hour nights/days split job in healthcare, with each night shift, lasting from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. I have been working at this job and in this role for six years. That’s a lot of time spent burning the midnight oil.

I actually strangely look forward to my night shifts, as opposed to the days. I’ve always been more of a night owl, and find staying up late much easier than getting up early. However, there are times where I find myself struggling with the routine. This can especially be the case if you have a household, roommate, or partner who also does not work on this kind of schedule.

It is so important, working in the field that I do, that I am alert, and focused during these working hours. So, how do we achieve that at 4:00 am on a Tuesday?

Below, you will find my top tips and tricks for being functional during the middle of the night – while still maintaining your life and sanity outside of work.

1. Set Yourself Up for Success the Day Before

This means many things. Firstly, it helps to lay the groundwork the night before your scheduled shift.

The night before you are booked to work try to stay up later, maybe you work on a project, watch TV or read. Have coffee or tea later in the day to help facilitate this (if you are partial to caffeinated beverages). By staying up later you start the work of flipping your sleep schedule.

Along with this, do not set an alarm for the next day after your late night. Attempt to sleep as late as you can. This will also help shift your sleep schedule.

2. Fuel Your Body

I have a confession, for me, when I am working nights I find myself completely devoid of any appetite. I realize this is not good for my body and my health, but truly at 3:00 am my stomach says immediately no to food.

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Katie Churchward
ILLUMINATION

Serving up the 30-something perspective from the frosty north. Lover of books, travel and a great cup of tea. She/her.