Nightshift Worker Questions!

[JamesGrieve]

Hi! this is my first post and I was wondering if anyone could answer some of my questions about working night shifts?

Basically, I work five nights a week (mon-fri) permanently. I start at 11pm and finish at 8am. I sleep from about 2pm until 9pm until it is time to go to work and then hit the gym when I finish.
Since I'm fighting the my body's urge to sleep at the right times, I am usually pretty drawn out by the time I finish work. I use pre-workout supplements to give me a boost in order to get me through my workouts. that brings me to my first question: Is the fact that I'm working out when I'm so tired and drawn out despite the use of supplements hindering my gains?

Also,
I've heard some rumours about metabolism going haywire through this lifestyle. I do find it hard to gain weight but not impossible. When I started nightshift (just over a year ago) I had a rapid drop in weight which at it's peak meant I was loosing a stone a week until I evened out at 12.5 stone and didn't drop any further. Does anyone know anything about what my metabolism might be doing?...

I will be grateful for any feedback I can get! :-)

[PeteratCastle]

Hi! this is my first post and I was wondering if anyone could answer some of my questions about working night shifts?

Basically, I work five nights a week (mon-fri) permanently. I start at 11pm and finish at 8am. I sleep from about 2pm until 9pm until it is time to go to work and then hit the gym when I finish.
Since I'm fighting the my body's urge to sleep at the right times, I am usually pretty drawn out by the time I finish work. I use pre-workout supplements to give me a boost in order to get me through my workouts. that brings me to my first question: Is the fact that I'm working out when I'm so tired and drawn out despite the use of supplements hindering my gains?

Also,
I've heard some rumours about metabolism going haywire through this lifestyle. I do find it hard to gain weight but not impossible. When I started nightshift (just over a year ago) I had a rapid drop in weight which at it's peak meant I was loosing a stone a week until I evened out at 12.5 stone and didn't drop any further. Does anyone know anything about what my metabolism might be doing?...

I will be grateful for any feedback I can get! :-)

How do you sleep from 2 till9? Do you feel well-rested when you wake up?
Do you eat more because you're on nightshift? What kind of work do you do? Is it physical labour that could have an effect on your workout as your muscles are tired or do you sit still and not move all night?

From everything I can find to do with metabolism and nightshift there does seem to be a correlation which appears to suggest that metabolism is f'ed up when you do shift work/stay on night shifty too long but I can't find any reviewed studies on it.

Logic seems to suggest that if you're very tired before working out your gains will suffer, simply because you can't put max effort into it. I don't know if it's possible for you to hit the gym before work, and therefore sleep earlier in the day but that's what worked for me when I did night shifts (I went to sleep approx 2 hrs after my shifts finished and woke up early afternoon and then did whatever I needed to do. Felt a lot better for it, tbh.

[Pluto1998]

Hi! this is my first post and I was wondering if anyone could answer some of my questions about working night shifts?

Basically, I work five nights a week (mon-fri) permanently. I start at 11pm and finish at 8am. I sleep from about 2pm until 9pm until it is time to go to work and then hit the gym when I finish.
Since I'm fighting the my body's urge to sleep at the right times, I am usually pretty drawn out by the time I finish work. I use pre-workout supplements to give me a boost in order to get me through my workouts. that brings me to my first question: Is the fact that I'm working out when I'm so tired and drawn out despite the use of supplements hindering my gains?

Also,
I've heard some rumours about metabolism going haywire through this lifestyle. I do find it hard to gain weight but not impossible. When I started nightshift (just over a year ago) I had a rapid drop in weight which at it's peak meant I was loosing a stone a week until I evened out at 12.5 stone and didn't drop any further. Does anyone know anything about what my metabolism might be doing?...

I will be grateful for any feedback I can get! :-)

As a Human, it is not healthy to be sleeping during the day and being awake night. We are day walkers and our circadian rhythms are regulated by light, especially sun light. Even when tired after a nightshift and your body senses sun light, your body will start to release chemicals and hormones to wake you up. Your metabolism and hormones are also controlled by this circadian rhythm.

I work a nurse myself and had my fair share of night shifts. Although, for some reason that no doctor can explain, working nightshifts causes me to piss blood. So I had to stop working nights.

Anyway I did a few things which helped me deal with nightshifts and sleeping during the day. Like, wearing dark sunnies after work during sunrise to trick my body into thinking it's darker. Also making it appear that it is night at home. Like covering my bedroom window and blocking all sunlight to make it appear like it's night.

[BombDonald]

I've worked night shifts for 2.5 years now and am quite used to it. Best thing I ever did was black out my room so I could get better sleep during the day. Workouts are usually about 2-3 hours after work, then I get ready for bed. I don't screw around with pre-workouts usually since I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is.

Strength and mass has gone up significantly since I started night shift, so I wouldn't say it has affected me all that much if at all.