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Sometimes we can not do things during the day, and it is up to the engineers to step in and fix those things. There are many professions in Engineering where engineers need to work on night shift, such as software, electrical and civil engineers. Night shifts are dreadful and do not get easier with time, no matter how long you do them. Yet, there are tips you can implement for better adaptation.
Night shift jobs are quite common across different industries; however, it is extremely difficult for engineers due to the complexity that requires focus and attention to detail which is quite challenging to do since humans are not designed to work at night.
Night shifts challenges and how to adapt quickly as an engineer
1- Get the right amount of sleep
Sleeping is the most challenging thing to do as a night shift engineer. It would help if you had enough sleep to stay functional during the night, which is not an easy task. The best thing to do is to ensure that you get at least the same hours of sleep as you get when you work during the day. For example, if you need 7 hours of sleep to do your work with high productivity during the day, focus on getting the same hours during the night shift.
The following are tips to balance your sleep during night shifts as an engineer:
- Go to sleep as soon as you get back from the night shift. Do not delay sleep when you get back from work in the morning, as it will only make you more tired.
- Sleep for at least 30 min before going to work. This power nap can help keep you focused and awake during the shift.
- Block the day sun and noise while you are sleeping.
This is the tricky part no matter how tired you are from the night shift; your brain will stay awake if the sun and day noise (like street noise) are coming directly to you. This is why you should aim to sleep before sunrise because your brain might trick you into staying awake.
However, there are effective workaround to this problem with a few simple hacks:
- Make sure your bedroom has very minimal sunlight by shutting down all window blinds
- Put your phone and other smart devices on silent
- Use a sleeping eye mask and earplugs to block light and day noise. This is quite an effective way to trick your brain into deep sleep without interruptions. We recommend Mzoo sleeping eye mask, which comes with free earplugs. You can get it in your favourite colour on Amazon.
- In case you live in a loud neighbourhood or in the middle of the city where you can hear car noise all day, or you just live in a loud house. You can try using a white noise sleeping machine that can block the background noise, give you the sleep required, and help you fall asleep faster with a range of white comforting white sounds.
Snooz is our pick for a sleeping machine. It comes with a real fan inside and can be controlled with an app to make the experience seamless and much more reliable than other products. Use the link to buy on Amazon.
2- Manage to stay awake and focused during night shifts
The challenging part is actually doing your job without falling asleep or losing focus. There is no easy way to do this, but even if you sleep well during the day, maintaining focus at night can be difficult, especially when you have to sit in front of the computer for a few hours. Things might be much easier if you move all the time, but it is not as much for engineers.
There are many reasons to go on night shifts. For example, you need to access something that is not possible during the day, such as civil works (roads or bridges), electrical cables or optic fibre cables, or maybe performing a company software update that needs to be done overnight or working at a factory. All of those jobs require an engineer to ensure things are running smoothly.
Make your progress checklist
Nightshift jobs have a short time window that needs to be done during the night, which is why you should have a checklist to ensure that you are not missing a task during this short window. Therefore, you should have an open discussion with the other engineers and workers and write down all the tasks required in your notebooks before starting working; this way, you are less likely to miss out on anything important.
Have some coffee
Coffee is your best friend during the night shifts, but you need to consume the right amount to ensure that you can sleep easily after the end of the shift.
Avoid drinking more than two a day; the more you have, the more difficult it will be to sleep later. Moreover, I found that the best time to have coffee is when you wake up and before you start your night shift. Having one during the shift or close to the shift end might make it difficult to sleep.
We can not begin to list the importance of coffee in your life as an engineer; this is why we wrote this article for you: Is Coffee Bad For Engineers? 6 Life-Changing Tips.
3- Balance your social life and mental health
There is no easy way to say this: you might have to sacrifice some social life as a night shift engineer. This means you might not be able to catch up with friends after work or hang out during the week. While they do their daily activities, you are sleeping, and when they sleep, you work. Therefore, you might have to make some sacrifices in this area as it is just difficult to maintain a social life while you do night shifts, from my experience.
While it might be tough to maintain a social life on weekdays, it is much easier on the weekend. Try to plan those social events during the night because you can afford to stay awake all night.
Get over the fear of missing out
The fear of missing out is a trap every night shift worker falls in. While you work during the night, you might feel that you are not doing anything interesting outside of work, and you might be more inclined to sleep less during the day because you do not want to miss out on other activities during the day.
This can have serious negative effects on your performance during the night. Therefore, try to postpone those events during the weekend. You do not want to drain yourself during the day as it is very difficult to maintain your focus during the night.
Your happiness, mental & physical health
Humans can maintain very positive mental health by doing what makes them happy with the people they love. Not doing much of that can seriously impact your mental health and happiness. Moreover, working at night can also impact the level of serotonin in your body, which is your happiness hormone.
Studies have shown that night shift people have significantly low serotonin levels. Your body just does not produce much of it when you work at night, making you less happy and sometimes depressed; read the full article here.
That is why you should monitor your behaviour, emotions, and actions. You might be more vulnerable to anxiety attacks or easily get depressed or angry. It is important to bring those to your employer or seek professional help if you start noticing this sudden change in your behaviour.
You can minimise the impact of the night shift on your mental health by:
- Try to catch up with friends and family on weekends
- Look after your physical health by going to the gym or going for a walk around your block. This can help increase the level of serotonin in your body.
- Ensure that you have at least three meals a day: the first meal when you wake up, another before you go to work, and finally, in the middle of your night shift.
The Bottom Line
I wise It is easy to avoid night shifts, but it needs to be done, and if your company decides to put you on night duties, it means that they have high trust in your abilities to put you in such position. Therefore, it is always important to ensure that you are physically and mentally prepared, well-compensated and getting enough sleep.
Engineers have very complicated jobs that require focus, excellent communication and management skills to solve those highly technical problems. This is why you need to ensure that you are well prepared for any challenges. For more help, read Top 7 Personality Traits Of Engineers For Immediate Success.
