Workin' nine to five is not for everyone. Almost four million Dutch people work irregularly. Night shifts in particular can have a major impact on your health. You can still limit the damage.
Use the power nap in the right way:a short nap of no more than twenty minutes that makes you feel a little fresher again. For example, towards the end of the night shift, so that you can drive home fit again.
Read also: 'These are they:occupations with the most sleep deprivation'
Talk to colleagues and ask for their best tips for dealing with irregular working hours.
Go full for a healthy lifestyle. This includes not only healthy eating, but also sleeping well, exercising enough, not smoking, little stress and being moderate with alcohol.
Write in your agenda when you are going to do what at what time. Plan your sports, family, rest and sleep time. And guard them!
Discuss with your employer how the company can support you during irregular working hours. Maybe it helps if you have a number of irregular shifts in succession or maybe you thrive better if you always have a rest day in between.
In the January issue of Santé, sleep coaches Irma Leijten and Aline Kruit give more tips about the effect of working irregularly on your body. Aline:“As sleep coaches we see many people with insomnia complaints. We noticed that irregular working hours have a huge influence on this. That inspired us to go deeper into it.” Irma:“We discovered that a lot of research has been done into irregular working hours, but that all that knowledge was not bundled anywhere. That is why we have put everything together in our book Good Night, supplemented with tips for people who work irregular hours and companies that unfortunately cannot avoid irregular working hours.”
Read more? Buy the January issue of Santé!
