Ive been driving nights for six months now & starting to get some real problems with stomach cramps, plus feeling very light headed from time to time , i try to eat healthy its hard tho when you dont even want to eat , can anybody tell me how they cope with work ,health , an the fact that now the dark nights are here seeing very little natural day light ?. Cheers
Been on nights for over 3 years now, not really sure how I cope, tbh healthy diet and all that went out of the window when I started. I just get on with it
Get a new job!
Your health more important than any job.
Personally the first thing I’d do is go and see a doctor, just to make sure it not something more serious, that’s might not be linked to night work.
Stomach Cramps and Light headed, Have you cut something out of your diet thinking it’s unhealthy, but in fact you need it especially as you are not getting a lot of natural sunlight.
Ive been driving nights for six months now & starting to get some real problems with stomach cramps, plus feeling very light headed from time to time
Welcome to the club, get exactly the same. Looking for dayshift job now.
Ive been looking for day work sinse i passed my test , my first driving job , jobs are hard to find where i live
If your health is suffering to the point of noticing it then get out of it whatever the cost , its something i struggled with and it will only get worse .
I didnt listen to what my body was telling me i struggled through it and made it worse . You are no good to anyone in hospital on a heart machine and you aint no good dead .
Find a way to get out before it gets too late , trust me i know what im talking about . Driving wasn’t my problem and nor was the job but it amounts to the same thing , stress will get you in the end and it aint worth it .
i hope this doesn’t sound daft, but have you flipped your life upside down to match the nightshifts?
what i mean is. i may finish at 5am, i’ll come home veg for an hour, maybe have a beer, (yes at 530-6am) before going to bed. my mrs thought i was nuts, but i said my 5-6am was like anyone elses 10-11pm.
so if i’m in bed for 6am, i’ll get up say 1pm, normally the mrs is just about to have her lunch, she’ll offer to do me some, but again her 1-2pm, is now my 7-8am, so i’ll have a slice of toast and a coffee. luckily, our dinnertime if you like, seems to clash about right, i’ve just got into cooking, so we eat well, not in the way of salads and low fat this and that, but in the way of proper ingredients, and home cooked, as opposed some crap out of a packet, or in a plastic tray. easy and ready meals are ok day to day, but no good long term. plus i find if you do the right home cooked grub, you can buy in such a way, that your leftovers can be turned into lunch to take to work that night.
don’t know if that helps, but works for me.
i’ve only done nights in the uk, on general for 10 months, i normally do another job, mainly europe, but that is nights aswell.
there is no way i could go back on days in the uk, had enough of it. even though the day drivers earn more, they do “earn” it as opposed to my normally easy, stress free night runs 
I’d love to work nights but our firm won’t let me for some reason(trust), come swap with me…lol
Deal were u work lol 
TBH my diet changed for he better on nights, always take pack up , less greasy spoons open, plus i can get more done at home and see kids more. Just dont try burning the candle at bothe ends
I’m the same as above on the healthy eating thing. On days there are just too many opportunities to eat rubbish. I find on nights I eat a lot better, get a better sleep, the blackout curtains help with that, and see more of the family. Tried the turning the day around but never worked for me. I make sure I get at least 6 hrs sleep a day, get up and have a good breakfast, light meal around 5, off to work for 6 and take a sandwich & drink with me. I find it works for me.
Just left my job on night shifts and got a job elsewhere on days. It was making me I’ll, I looked and felt like ■■■■■, and it was quickly destroying my marriage. Get out asap.
The cramps are basically your bowels outta sync. Drink plenty of water.
blindspot:
Ive been driving nights for six months now…
I’ve been doing nights for around 15 months straight now and I love it. However, around the 6 month mark, like you, I started to get sick of it and felt it was destroying my life. I worked through that though and now I don’t think I could ever go back to working days. For me, finish times are important. I’m normally in bed for around 6am but I know some people who work nights elsewhere that are still out on the road at 10am. I couldn’t do that.
I hope this helps.
chilistrucker:
i hope this doesn’t sound daft, but have you flipped your life upside down to match the nightshifts?
what i mean is. i may finish at 5am, i’ll come home veg for an hour, maybe have a beer, (yes at 530-6am) before going to bed. my mrs thought i was nuts, but i said my 5-6am was like anyone elses 10-11pm.
so if i’m in bed for 6am, i’ll get up say 1pm, normally the mrs is just about to have her lunch, she’ll offer to do me some, but again her 1-2pm, is now my 7-8am, so i’ll have a slice of toast and a coffee. luckily, our dinnertime if you like, seems to clash about right, i’ve just got into cooking, so we eat well, not in the way of salads and low fat this and that, but in the way of proper ingredients, and home cooked, as opposed some crap out of a packet, or in a plastic tray. easy and ready meals are ok day to day, but no good long term. plus i find if you do the right home cooked grub, you can buy in such a way, that your leftovers can be turned into lunch to take to work that night.
don’t know if that helps, but works for me.
i’ve only done nights in the uk, on general for 10 months, i normally do another job, mainly europe, but that is nights aswell.
there is no way i could go back on days in the uk, had enough of it. even though the day drivers earn more, they do “earn” it as opposed to my normally easy, stress free night runs
^^^^^^^ This is good advice . Back on nights for the last few months - but like above you’ve got to change your life as well to have any chance of getting it right . Try to get reasonably similar start times ( for me anything between 20;30 to 21;30) means that i know I’m going to be finished and home for 08;30 - 09;00 bed by 10;00 and up to start it all again around 17;30 . You have got to find what works and for the first few months until your body settles into it be very ridged about timing
Blindspot…what state are your TEETH in…had all the probs you had then went to dentist…sorted…rotten just about everything…teeth now kept in
pocket or cubbyhole in the dash…no more health probs.Rotten teeth poison your innards.
I’ve got a friend In the UK who’s worked 30 year’s night’s…
Firstly on parcel service night trunks, but now on general RDC stuff…
BTW, the guy’s now a right ‘Head-case’ !! 
blindspot:
Ive been driving nights for six months now & starting to get some real problems with stomach cramps, plus feeling very light headed from time to time , i try to eat healthy its hard tho when you dont even want to eat , can anybody tell me how they cope with work ,health , an the fact that now the dark nights are here seeing very little natural day light ?. Cheers
Sounds like IBS, get yourself down the doctors, easily treated.
blindspot:
Ive been driving nights for six months now & starting to get some real problems with stomach cramps, plus feeling very light headed from time to time , i try to eat healthy its hard tho when you dont even want to eat , can anybody tell me how they cope with work ,health , an the fact that now the dark nights are here seeing very little natural day light ?. Cheers
You could be S.A.D! Seasonal affective disorder! It’s brought on by lack of sunlight and shortened daylight hours in winter! As a night tramper, I used to start at 20:00 hrs and finish at 11:00 hrs three times a week and obviously two thirteens BUT I SLEPT LIKE A LOG! I could be showered and lunched for 12:30 and lights out till 19:55hours even in a red hot summer! I’ve done nights for twenty years, three years on days! 
nights is easier! 
for running bent abroad!