I go for my 6wk follow-up tomorrow and go back to work next Friday. As the title hints at I work 12hr night shifts and was wondering if anyone else on the forum works an unconventional schedule? There have been years of study concerning the detrimental effects of working against your circadian rhythm one of those is weight gain and cortisol levels. I'm hoping to hear from those folks who are willing to share tips, hints, and struggles. Ideally not working night shift is the best but not feasible for me nor do I want to work dayshift. Thanks in advance.

I've worked rotating 12 hour shifts for damn near the past 20 years.

It's what I've blamed my obesity on.............fast food before and after the shift......vending machine junk during.

Now....it's a source of strength....a place where I can control exposure to foods based on what I take in to work with me. A controlled environment. A place to walk my arse off and stay hydrated. A gym at work right beside the cafeteria.....where I can occasionally get a lifting session in vs eating the fried death they serve.

I work an 11a-11p shift in a busy ER. We are balls to the wall the entire shift. My doc says I can go back to work in 2 weeks. How do you get you 5-6 little meals in during work? Sometimes we get a lunch break and sometimes we don't.

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Edited May 9, 201610 yr by onehappychick

I also work 12 hours nights at the hospital. I just had my surgery so I have 5 more weeks before returning but when I do return I'm really worried about getting enough fluids in at work. Before I could just down Water quickly when I had a chance but I won't be able to do that anymore. It's going to be a struggle at first I think.

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Thank you for your response @@Dub, glad to see you're doing well on swing shifts!. Like the girls above I work in healthcare too and any downtime is dictated by the patient. I bought a 20oz small mouth Nalgene with a loop handle/mouthpiece cover to take with me on rounds to try and keep hydrated other than that and bringing the right foods for my meal when I get a chance to eat, I don't know what to expect. If I discover any tips or tricks I'll share them.

I also work night shift at a hospital and have 1 week of short term disability leave left. My surgeon said 2 weeks but I had strong pain return during the second week. Three weeks would have been doable, but the surgeon let me have 4 weeks and I'm glad for it. I'm using this time to also learn how to manage my Fluid and food intake (some days I can only get in 1 cup of food and 1 liter of fluids). If I had returned to work after 2 weeks still in pain, dealing with a busy 12 hour shift, and having to figure out if I can handle pureed food, I would not be doing myself any good.