Yoga For People Working In Night Shift

by Bala
(Bangalore, India )

I work in night shift. I reach home around 4.15 AM. I got to get up at 7:30 AM to drop kids to school I get freed at 9 AM. Then I need to be ready to receive kids at 12:20 PM. I get freed at 2 PM. To get ready to be picked to work again at 4 PM. It's completely broken by few hours each. I am finding difficulty in managing everything. I was regular in Yoga about 2 yrs back. Could you please advice me right time for yoga, sleep and food? Thank you .

Answer


Yoga is not only about yoga asanas and pranayama. Your body needs at least six to eight hours of sleep to ensure proper rest and relaxation. Therefore yoga practice will not be relaxing and enjoyable if there is sleep deficit. Your current routine does not permit you to continue your sleep at a stretch.

You must be finding difficult in managing things mostly due to sleep deprivation. It can lead to insomnia, irritability, lack of concentration, depression and depletion of energy levels.

You may need to change your current life style and sleep hours. If you are not in a position to change your working and resting hours, it is not possible to get un interrupted sleep. Optimise your free time for maximum relaxation. Do not tax your digestive system, eat easily digestible sattvik food. Your main focus should be to avoid any kind of stress on your mind and body. Accept the situation and work continuously to improve it.

Suggested Routine

After coming back from work take a quick shower. For 5 minutes do rhythmic breathing and then do yoga nidra or meditation for 5-10 minutes. If you feel hungry, drink a glass of warm milk, a toast or a fruit before sleeping.

Afterwards, take adequate amount of sleep. Ensure there are no disturbances.

When you wake up do yoga. After yoga, take 30 minutes rest at least and then eat your meals.

Eat some healthy snacks/ fruits before going to work and have dinner around 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

On your day off, sleep early at around 10 PM and get up at 6:00 AM to do yoga for one or two hours.

Tips

Find More Time. If possible, take help of somebody to take care of dropping the kids to school and you can then sleep for seven to eight hours after coming back from work. Thereafter do yoga for an hour or so and after resting eat your meals. You must do yoga only once you are rested and relaxed.

Be greedy for sleep. Give top most priority to get adequate sleep by limiting other activities if possible. Or delegate some activities to others if possible.

Do regular exercise, even if you can do it only for 30 minutes daily.

Change to a more healthy lifestyle.

Eat healthy, nutritious and easily digestible food. Avoid soft drinks and all other types of junk food. Avoid too much of tea/ coffee as it may make it difficult to sleep after your work is over.

Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated during the night to avoid headache and fatigue.

Experiment and find your own path. You can have a look at this brochure for night shift workers.