Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson & Me

We all work the night shift….

I’d been pondering the whole sleep/lifestyle balance with regard to healthy living and all of the advice that’s out there lately.

Then Mark Sisson, whose Primal Blueprint is a staunch proponent of early nights in blacked out rooms posted an article about shift workers, and I felt compelled to reply:

I’m really glad that this has come up, since I am just beginning my primal journey, and work swing shifts.  My shifts are 12 hours long, and I’m fairly lucky, I guess, in that I only do two nightshifts every 8 days.

In my reading so far, I’ve seen plenty of mention of getting the requisite amount of sleep, and so the shift work thing was an early conundrum for me and I have given it some thought.  I’ve even mentioned it in a couple of my blog posts over the last day or two.

Given how I’ve resolved this quandary for myself, I’m somewhat surprised that in the original article, and subsequent comments that there is no mention of our old friend Grok.

I decided that there surely must have been times that Grok would have to take his turn to tend the campfire through the night, keep watch for night time predators and enemies, and participate in nocturnal hunts.  Maybe he just simply stayed up to tend to an ailing band mate?

For the most part I enjoy my work, I enjoy the flexibility my schedule provides and I enjoy the additional financial reward that comes from working unpopular hours.  I do find that it impacts on my social life a little, however I treat my sleep schedule as importantly as my work schedule.  If someone wants to have a Saturday brunch, they would understand if I skipped because I had to be at work, well they can understand if I have to sleep, because I have been at work.

If they don’t understand, and push the issue, I’ll be like “OK I finish work at 8am, I’ll see you at 11am, then tomorrow I’ll come around to your place for breakfast between 3 and 4 am.  What do you mean you’ll be sleeping? I’ll likely be wide awake, I’ll call first and then honk in the driveway.”  Sometime things just need to be explained simply