Day & Night

I work a shift schedule. My shifts are all 12 hours long and either run from 7:00AM - 7:00PM (A "Day" shift) or from 7:00PM - 7:00AM (A "Mid" shift). The schedule follows a 56 day cycle.

Schedule Data

4 days - 5 off - 5 days - 4 off - 5 days - 5.5 off

4 mids - 5 off - 5 mids - 4 off - 5 mids - 4.5 off

This will have an obvious impact on my diet, workouts, and sleep. My goal from here is to make the second half of the 56 day cycle as successful as the first half. The "month of mids" as I call it will have some unique challenges, but I'm hoping to proactively address them.

Planning will have a large part in this. I work out before work is one major change, but due to the nature of my schedule, I'll only be able to attend aikido classes on my days off now. This means, my running is going to be all that much more important. I'll also probably be eating prior to work, and packing a midnight meal. Having a nutritious meal at work will be a huge factor because my workplace typically only keeps very sugary and fatty snacks available in the break room. Removing any temptation there is of capital importance.

I'm still not sure what will constitute a "day" in terms of data during this time. It's easy when you sleep at night. A day's nutritional intake is just what you eat on a given calender date, but when you are awake equally for the date change, things get unclear. I think the rule will be to use the time I wake up on day one, until the time I go to sleep on day two. I'll log data under the date of the second day (just like I charge my hours at work).

Off to the grocery to be equipped for success! Take it away Cudi!