How to maintain a healthy lifestyle if you work the night shift

Working against your body’s circadian rhythm can be challenging. Health and fitness experts tell you how to find the right balance

Not the chirping of birds but perhaps the buzzing sound of crickets. No daylight, but your laptop’s backlight on night mode to keep the melatonin at bay. If you have a work-from-home job, no doorbells to answer or humans to distract you, does it even matter what the city looks like beyond the four walls after midnight? And as the early birds rise and make their presence heard, you call it a day. 

If you’ve been productive, you deserve not just a good night’s sleep but also a healthy, wholesome life, which, when you’re working against your (and most people in your life) circadian rhythm, can be challenging. For one, our body, since birth, has been programmed to be active during the day and rest at night, says Rishabh Telang, a fitness expert at Curefit. 

Some studies indicate that prolonged night-shift work leads to obesity, heart conditions and decline in cognitive ability over time. “Challenging the body’s natural clock confuses the brain, the impact gradually resulting in brain fog and isolation,” says neuro coach Saloni Suri. Then there are hunger pangs and meeting our daily nutritive requirements, which nutritionist and certified diabetes educator Rashi Chowdhary says is crucial along with getting enough sleep to repair our body at the cellular levels and maintain good gut health. These are things one should be mindful of anyway, but how do you keep track of your everyday health when your day begins at dusk and ends at dawn? One has less choice than to be disciplined when they work the night shift. Finding the right schedule and balance and being able to maintain it is key in order to avoid mind and body degradation. We ask experts to weigh in.

Starting right

David Pereira works as a senior representative in investor service operations at BNY Mellon, and usually starts his day at 1 pm, which ends at 3 am. While it took him some time to get accustomed to his sleep-wake hours, Pereira has been following a routine for the last four years where he tries to maintain a healthy balance in his professional and social life, like having one meal with his family daily. There may have been some momentous occasions he might have had to forgo this due to his schedule, but he looks at it pretty fairly, “Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. I also have a great excuse to get out of plans I really don’t want to commit to.”

Pereira ensures he adheres to his regimen, even on weekends, “Consistency is key. I make sure I get a minimum of eight hours of rest daily in order to avoid cognitive exhaustion after dealing with numbers all day.” While he eats light and keeps a stash of healthy snacks on hand and manages to squeeze in a workout too, Pereira does feel concerned about keeping up with his fitness routine, which was fairly active prior to working the night shift, and, whether his irregular sleep patterns will have a long-term impact on his body and its responses.

“Disrupted sleep cycles affect our brain's cognitive powers and the memory cells,” says Suri. Besides getting at least seven hours of sleep, you can, and should, still have a morning routine, even if it’s in the middle of the afternoon. “Your golden hour after waking up should be your focus,” Suri says, adding, “have a shower, journal, practise yoga and/or gor for a 20-minute walk if you can, meditate and set your priorities for the day, then start your day.” While your morning routine depends on your individual body type, goals and shift timings, you’re still breaking your fasting period when you wake up—how you do it contributes to your energy through the rest of the day. 

Chowdhary suggests starting your day with fat first irrespective of when you wake. “This would help stabilise blood sugar levels first thing in the morning, and follow it with lunch.” For lunch, the hour from noon to 1 pm when our metabolism is usually at its peak, she suggests, is ideal, adding slow carbs combined with lots of protein, fibre and good fats. “Eat a really light snack like fruit with nuts in the evening, eventually followed by dinner, keeping the ratios of macro foods in mind.” When our body works right, our brain works right. Suri advises playing memory games to keep the brain active and agile, and consuming omega-3 supplements to help in cognitive functioning and brain repair.

Work it

When it comes to maintaining mind and body strength, following a consistent sleep and exercise routine is essential. “Exercise during the day can support your internal body clock, making it easier to fall asleep at night,” says Telang. “Identify a routine that you enjoy and can do consistently, which should be a good mix of strength and cardio,” he adds. Break it down into smaller chunks, if 30-60 minutes at a stretch seems difficult. But try to be regular with your timing, as that’s a key factor that contributes to improving the sleep cycle patterns. Add exercise as a non-negotiable priority in your schedule so you can stick to it. “Having a workout partner helps in motivation and accountability,” adds Telang. Additionally, seek the help of a coach who can customise your workouts according to your goals and preferences.

Breaking and building habits

Sanju Bhambhani, CTO at US-based instant private photo-sharing platform SpotMyPhoto, takes his work calls after sunset, and while he has the liberty to clock in the rest of his hours at any time of the day, he prefers to work the night shift. He loves it, especially the silence, feels extremely productive, and usually works until 4 am. A second cup of coffee at 7 pm keeps him up through the working hours, though “some nights require reinforcements like Redbull or another cup of coffee”. He sleeps for an average of six hours and is up by noon, which leaves enough sunlight to run errands and other routine habits like an hour of working out. He catches up on sleep on weekends. “I work out—it’s crucial; so is disconnecting. I go out, meet friends, and unwind. I don’t work on weekends unless it’s urgent or if it’s a different project, which helps me switch context.” He admits there’s occasional insomnia every 4-6 months because his brain is always working, and has a vitamin D deficiency. 

A study indicates that drinking coffee up to six hours before bed can reduce sleep time by more than an hour, and if experienced over multiple nights, may have detrimental effects on the body’s daytime functioning. As hard as it is to stay away from coffee or other stimulants like chocolate, it’s equally imperative to do so. “You don’t want the unwanted sugar rush,” says Chowdhary. She suggests drinking chilled lemon water and decaffeinated herbal teas like chamomile or rose tea instead, or consuming a small piece of vegan dark chocolate or a handful of nuts with a date to keep your energy levels up, while also being able to attain restful sleep later.

Midnight meals

Our daily diet plays a crucial role in deciding how we feel—light, sluggish, focused, energised, fatigued or sleepless. If you’re up at night working, you’ll often find yourself reaching for a midnight meal—what you pick could either energise you or do the opposite. This midnight meal can be the equivalent of a breakfast, says Chowdhary—more protein and fat-rich, like protein shakes, eggs and guacamole, hummus or truffle bars. If preparing a quick after-hours meal seems out of the question, you can still be mindful with midnight snacking, “Keep it lower on carbs,” Chowdhary says, and snack on roasted foxnuts, roasted chana or coconut yoghurt with nuts. But also understand your hunger levels—if you’ve had a late, heavy dinner, you probably need less than what you think when you get hungry again.

“Leptin and ghrelin are two of the many hormones that essentially regulate our hunger and feelings of fullness,” explains Chowdhary. “It's crucial to gauge your hunger levels since the hormone ghrelin, which is produced in the stomach and alerts the brain when you're hungry, spontaneously decreases after about two hours without meals. This is exactly in line with our clinical observation that hunger comes in waves,” she adds. Hunger will vanish if you merely ignore it. 

Finally, but most importantly, focus on getting seven hours of uninterrupted deep sleep by being mindful of how you end your day. Take a cold shower—research has shown that we sleep better when our body temperature is cooler, avoid the use of electronic devices in bed, and keep away from light exposure with blackout curtains and an eye mask. Sleep is your body’s time to repair your cells and restore your energy—don’t let it work all night to digest the food you ate just before you went to bed. “Your last meal as you finish your shift should be the lightest,” says Suri. She also suggests getting regular medical check-ups and tests to track your vitamins to get correct advice on supplementation. Ultimately, it boils down to doing all that it takes to attain a good night’s restful sleep after a day of work, for a mind and body that’s ready to take on the next day, evening or night.

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