{"id":15350,"date":"2021-11-29T21:40:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T02:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theothershift.com\/?p=15350"},"modified":"2022-01-11T06:03:27","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T11:03:27","slug":"wanting-to-quit-shift-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theothershift.com\/wanting-to-quit-shift-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanting to Quit Shift Work? 13 Signs Change is Required"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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When you first started shift work, you envisioned this; improved income levels, increased shift differentials, avoid traffic jams, no people overload from your day job and sunbathing in the afternoon after completing your daily chores before the kids arrived home from school. Though possible, your good intentions fizzled and you’re now energy depleted, life feels like you only work, eat and sleep and you’re contemplating quitting. What are the clear signs you might be ready for a change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The common stressors that cause people to want to quit shift work include; impact on diet, working against your body clock, weight gain, overall health, family & relationships, sleep, burnout, and a lack of sun exposure. If left unchecked, these stressors can cause lasting implications on your daily life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now, we established this website to assist the millions of people who work a rotating roster. However, you might be at a point you just can’t do it anymore and change is a must. So let\u2019s look at the signs of potential impacts from shift work to determine correlations that might exist between your working hours and the detrimental, life-altering effects you\u2019re experiencing. This article intends to equip you with the knowledge to make an informed decision about quitting shift work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Irregular Diet and Feeling Bloated Continuously<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your family is home sleeping. It\u2019s 2 am and you\u2019re hungry. You think you should be sleeping, too, but instead, you\u2019re working. Every night you plan to bring healthy snacks to work, but more sleep or chores or I\u2019ll get healthy nuts out of the vending machine, assures you it isn\u2019t necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When hunger and sleepiness threaten to take over your body, you buy chips and chocolate and coffee. The caffeine<\/a> will help you stay awake. It\u2019s still working when you get home. You can\u2019t sleep, and the snacks you consumed a few hours ago didn\u2019t sustain you, so you cook. And then you eat a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, home fries, toast loaded with butter, and juice to get your vitamin C. Sleepiness soon takes over, and you go to bed on a full stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digestive problems are common in shift workers due to disruption of the body clock (circadian rhythm) and poor diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Disrupted Circadian Rhythm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The body clock, also known as the circadian rhythm, is a 24-hour biological cycle that occurs individually in every cell of the body, driving daily rhythms in our physiology, from when we sleep, to hormone levels, to how we respond to medication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our body clock is synchronized with the surrounding environment by exposure to daylight and the timing of meals. This synchrony is important for long-term health, and it is well known that disrupting your circadian rhythm by shift work or travel across time zones can be detrimental for health. Importantly, it is thought that eating at unusual times, as often occurs during shift work and jet lag, is a major cause of body clock disruption (source<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You now stuggle to sleep and function effectivly as a human being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. I’m A Hazard To Other Drivers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When shift workers are exhausted and sleepy, they often reach for the comfort of food<\/a>. However, shift workers are eating at a time when the body is primed to be asleep and processes involved in digesting food<\/a> works differently at night. This means the impact of eating at night may be very different, potentially much worse, than when eating in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this pilot study<\/a>, people who ate a large meal drove significantly worse than those who did not eat. They were seven times more likely to crash and had difficulty sticking to the speed limit and staying in their lane. They also felt sleepier and reported more bloating<\/a> compared to those who did not eat at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mmm, lasagna \u2026 It\u2019s an option you might want to avoid on the night shift, as it’s contributing to added strain on the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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