Be really careful what you eat.
Try to drink at least a litre of water each night and take 2 or 3 pieces of fruit, I find banana, apple and grapes ideal. Really important not to stuff yourself silly before or during your shift as this will make tired and feel really unwell.
I now avoid crisps and pastries as I result I’m feeling loads better each night.
I’ve just had my breakfast/lunch, starting at 4pm tonight and it comprised of a large pork chop garnished with onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. Really easy to knock up and not the most unhealthy.
tet:
Be really careful what you eat.
Try to drink at least a litre of water each night and take 2 or 3 pieces of fruit, I find banana, apple and grapes ideal. Really important not to stuff yourself silly before or during your shift as this will make tired and feel really unwell.
I now avoid crisps and pastries as I result I’m feeling loads better each night.
I’ve just had my breakfast/lunch, starting at 4pm tonight and it comprised of a large pork chop garnished with onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. Really easy to knock up and not the most unhealthy.
As above, and also avoid energy drinks and refined sugar, chocolate sweets and the like, some drivers take their 45 on the bunk.
The only issue I have with nights is the rest days when your body clock is all arse about it’s the same as jet lag, I have found the older I get the longer it’s taking me to adjust sometimes I have a long shift that runs into the morning rush hour and I realize it’s worth the grief. Why does everyone have to drive like a bank robber in the mornings?
Wasn’t one of these new rules brought in recently, that night workers had to have access to regular health checks? Might be worth looking into?
I might get flamed for this, but start your day with loads of water … then just snack on a small amount of fruit or proteins (tuna, chicken, ham etc) till 8AM (or 6 hours after start in my case). I’m talking 2 apples and 100g of chicken or beef jerky. Then eat nothing till you get home. You will feel hungry, but ignore it. When you get home have a massive meal. Can be healthy if you want to loose weight or anything you like if weights not a problem.
It seems hard at first, but fasting during the day becomes easy after a few days and actually makes you more alert. Having a massive meal when you get home or a few hours before you go to bed will make you drowsy and help you sleep.
As to lack of daylight I know what you mean. I can have 4 hours sleep and feel knackered till dawn then when the sun comes up I can keep going till sundown. Don’t know a fix for the daylight problem.
Me & chillistrucker work to nearly the same plan by the sounds of it, except I still can’t have a beer when I get in around 5/6am, that still doesn’t seem right to me! Most mornings I go straight to bed but on the occasions I’m in around 7, I’ll make some tea & toast and have a little ‘brekky in bed’ with the Mrs whilst she gets ready for work. I normally get up about midday in the summer (if home early)own which gives me 9 hrs to do as I please or as and when when the weather is crap…I start at 9pm (7-3 sundays) and rarely do more than 9hrs/night, which is just dandy…I know some blokes who do a full stretch and they always look half dead! If the hours are regular, get into a routine of getting out the pit at around the same time every day, the more sleep you have, ( 6 is normally enough for me) the more difficult it will be to sleep when you get in and need it (and you will end up wasting the days). Have a main meal before going in and take some fruit and fluid to get you through the night. Something else I do in the summer is to stay up until the Mrs is gone, pull the sun lounger out and kip in the garden (weather dependant!!) You will soon find (as I did) that nights is the best shift out there… I would only go back on days if i had no other choice. Going back through the original post, if you don’t wanna eat, then don’t, it shouldn’t take long for the body clock to adjust. Our day drivers do the 04:30 starts with the 5pm finish…home,evening meal, bed by 8…■■■■ that for a life…as they say “work to live, not live to work”
mike68:
tet:
Be really careful what you eat.
Try to drink at least a litre of water each night and take 2 or 3 pieces of fruit, I find banana, apple and grapes ideal. Really important not to stuff yourself silly before or during your shift as this will make tired and feel really unwell.
I now avoid crisps and pastries as I result I’m feeling loads better each night.
I’ve just had my breakfast/lunch, starting at 4pm tonight and it comprised of a large pork chop garnished with onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. Really easy to knock up and not the most unhealthy.As above, and also avoid energy drinks and refined sugar, chocolate sweets and the like, some drivers take their 45 on the bunk.
The only issue I have with nights is the rest days when your body clock is all arse about it’s the same as jet lag, I have found the older I get the longer it’s taking me to adjust sometimes I have a long shift that runs into the morning rush hour and I realize it’s worth the grief. Why does everyone have to drive like a bank robber in the mornings?
must admit, trying to swing your clock round at the weekends can be fun.
i do different runs every night, as its containers, but worst ways i’m home by 7am, normally though its 4-5am 
if i get in saturday for 5am, i’ll go to bed straight away, but up by 11am. that way it feels like i am still getting a full weekend. then sundays, i’ll prob stay up very late, with a bottle of brandy, and some online poker, and go to bed bout 2-3am. then prob up monday 10-11am.
we are all different, so its what suits really.
i’m like actrosman, 6 hours sleep daily is enough for me, but this night work is great, i often end up getting more.
it seems wierd, but i find we have a better quality of home/family life when i do nights.
Squiddy:
Don’t know a fix for the daylight problem.
Don’t you get vitamin D from the sun? Or the body converts sunlight in some ‘magical way’ into vitamin D? Maybe try some vitamin subs’?
Tarrman:
Squiddy:
Don’t know a fix for the daylight problem.Don’t you get vitamin D from the sun? Or the body converts sunlight in some ‘magical way’ into vitamin D? Maybe try some vitamin subs’?
20 mins sun exposure a day should do the trick, although you need more in the winter when the sun is lower. Sun through the window doesn’t count as it filters out the helpful UV rays but lets through the UV rays that age the skin.
how the hell dose working though dark and sleeping though light do you badly though
I think it is a mental health issue and not a phisical
Worked nights in a warehouse for 9 years followed by driving nights for last 8 years… I wouldnt want to work days now.
Its hard to adjust at weekends but you either get used to it or you die early.
Worked nights in a warehouse for 9 years followed by driving nights for last 8 years… I wouldnt want to work days now.
Its hard to adjust at weekends but you either get used to it or you die early.
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
I had similar symptoms when I worked regular nights. My mate (who has done nights for years) gave me a couple of tips, he suggested i was having too much sleep! and told me to try cutting my sleep-time down to a maximum 7 hours sleep (I was usually asleep for about 9 hours… i didn’t set the alarm clock, i just woke up, when i woke up) so i started setting the alarm, 7 hours sleep max and this worked for me.
The most important one, which also worked for me was not eating before bed… His philosophy was If you ate just before going to sleep, even as you were sleeping, your body was having to work to digest the food you just ate instead of shutting down for sleep.
contractdriver:
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 ?. CheersI had similar symptoms when I worked regular nights. My mate (who has done nights for years) gave me a couple of tips, he suggested i was having too much sleep! and told me to try cutting my sleep-time down to a maximum 7 hours sleep (I was usually asleep for about 9 hours… i didn’t set the alarm clock, i just woke up, when i woke up) so i started setting the alarm, 7 hours sleep max and this worked for me.
The most important one, which also worked for me was not eating before bed… His philosophy was If you ate just before going to sleep, even as you were sleeping, your body was having to work to digest the food you just ate instead of shutting down for sleep.
This sounds true but I’m sure after a big meal the body releases certain chemicals to aid with digestion which naturally make you sleepy?
Your body only really works hard when your asleep after say a hard session at the gym (the body works overtime to repair the damaged tissue, burning more caloroies hence the need to eat more).
after a few months on nights i started to get, erm, lets just say “digestive problems”
i found that it was worse if i didn’t have a regular pattern for eating meals and sleeping. never completely went away, so i went to see GP, who advised a move back onto days. boss said no, coz he’d never find another idiot to replace me on nights. put in my notice and moved to a different job on days, but it’s still the same and i’m now on medication (omeprazole) to keep symptoms away, but the GP doesn’t really seem that interested in finding a permenant solution
the annoying thing is that i know going back onto nights will probably make it worse again, but i was just so much happier working nights 
Cheers for all the advice 
Try cutting down on dairy food , I’ve been on nights for 5 years and suffered from stomach pains when I started so I started cutting out certain foods until I found milk was the cause . Also I noticed it is really easy to go without food for a long time on nights without realising as your body is out of whack so therefore your stomach will have excess acid when you don’t want it from been hungry at times where it is not convenient to eat , strangely stay away from foods that reduce the acid in your stomach or dilute it as your stomach will then produce more acid to overcome it , take a packet of rich tea biscuits on your journeys and have one every so often as this will give the acid something to break down instead of your stomach walls , also could be worth a visit to the docs and he may put you on some tablets to reduce the amount of acid your stomach makes , usually called either Zantac or lansopeazole hope this helps 
Do not get Gaviscon off the counter as it is a weaker version, the doc will give you a thicker one, or Omprezole, one tablet was not enough, so two in the morning worked better.
Keep off the coffee, Red Bull, Indian/Chinese food, and check the label packing on convenience food for spices and stuff that will make acid in the stomach,gastric reflux dissorder, the doc can make an appointment to place a pipe down the tum with a camera on the end to check for ulcers, if they bleed you can die.