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Wouldn't it be nice to be able to mow your lawn, shop and call those telemarketers at three in the morning? Working graveyard shifts can tax the body, but trying to adjust around a world that functions during the day can add extra stress. While you can't get everyone else to turn off during the day there are a few things you can do to survive working a graveyard shift.

Eat Properly
Your body still needs nutrition and unfortunately it seems junk food and graveyard shifts go hand in hand. Pack fruits and vegetables to snack on, which will also help keep your energy levels up. Packing a nutritional lunch will also help. Eat a good breakfast before you head off to work. Be wary of those items with advertisements screaming they will keep you awake for they fail to mention you will only be awake for a brief moment and then your body will really want to go to bed.

Watch your fluid intake
Know your limits on caffeine. If you are having trouble sleeping do a caffeine check and determine at what hour you can still have caffeine and get to sleep when you get off work. Even liquids without caffeine will need to escape later, so don't overdo the fluids or you might have to get up for bathroom breaks when you should be sleeping. But on the flip side, staying hydrated is important so find out what works for you.

Exercise
If you exercise before you go to work your body will be energized and awake. If you find your head bouncing off that cash register, computer screen or steering wheel, get up and do some deep knee bends, squats or jumping jacks. Stimulating the body helps wake the brain back up. When you take a break, take a brisk walk, run the stairs, practice your two-step dancing anything to energize and wake up the body.

Get plenty of sleep
One of the hardest things to do is realize that your body still needs to sleep 6-9 hours. Don't interrupt your schedule to stay up and get bills paid, or run that errand or allow that service call (that never comes on time). Fill your days off with this stuff. When scheduling appointments set them for your early "morning" hours, late afternoons, so your body can maintain a schedule and get enough sleep.

Darken your room as much as possible as this will help your brain stay asleep and shut out all the external noise going on. Fans help dull the roar outside your window and help you stay cooler while sleeping. Shut off the ringers on your phones. There is nothing worse than waking up to a telemarketer that does not understand you worked all night or a family member that forgot and still does not hesitate to tell you all the latest family news. Interrupted sleep is sometimes as bad as not getting any sleep.

Maintain a schedule
On your days off keep your night owl schedule. Stay up as late as you can and sleep during the day. Get up around the same time everyday to help your body get into a pattern.

If you rotate shifts, jumping between days and nights, shift your schedule as soon as possible. After working graveyards and changing to a day shift do a burn out stay up after your graveyard shift until that night so you can get your body readjusted. Cleaning house always helps on these burn out days. If going from days to nights, stay up as long as you possibly can the night before your first graveyard to get your body readjusted to nights. Cleaning house helps here as well (unless you live in an apartment and your neighbors would get upset over you vacuuming at two in the morning).

Those who work graveyards are a special lot of people but millions do it every night so the rest of the world can earn their keep during the day. These tips will help anyone survive a graveyard shift.

Learn more about this author, Karen Moore.
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