Night Shift
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6th Oct '04, 1:01am
I am currently working the grave yard shift and find it very difficult to recover from my trainning sessions. I am a semi professional soccer player. From the day i started night shift i have found that my leg muscles have actually become smaller and weaker even thoug im trainnig longer and harder with the team. Can you please help?
My day consists of going to \work at 11 pm and finishing at 7am.
I get home shower and sleep till 5pm. Then i attend trainning which commences at 6 30pm till 9 pm. Get home rest a bit and go back to work.
This pattern continues throughout the week.
Ive also found that my sprint times have decreased significantly also.
Please help or explain?
night shift
6th Oct '04, 6:25pm
Hi Tommy, the lack of sleep has no physical effect on your performance. If you are getting plenty of sleep, and it looks like you are, then your mental capacity should be suitably restored too. Sleep is by the brain, for the brain.
Disruption in sleep normally results in lack of concentration and motivation, not physical performance. I.e. you can do it, but you can't be bothered.
I suggest that you look at your eating patterns, as this may be what is causing fatigue and a decraese in performance. You also stated that you are training longer and harder with the team, so you may be overdoing it with an increase in training and change in lifestyle. Why not cut back on training for 1 week, eat more , and then gradually build up again?
Also, have a plan for relaxation activities- physical, social and mental.
Good luck.
Re: night shift
7th Oct '04, 12:19pm
Hi Tommy
Our physiology is still that same as our ancestors that were sun-driven. Despite the artificial light avaiulable we're still tuned to the natural rythm of daily and seasonal day/night cycles.
The cycles of light and dark as a result of the movements of the sun and planets affect everyone and everything. If you remember the solar eclipse of 1999 - many animals went to sleep in the middle of the day when the sun was eclpised.
Whenever light sti,ulates your skin or eyes, your brain and hormonal system thinks it'smorning and your body will release cortisol. As the sun rises our body's cortisol levels peak at about 6-9am, the as the sun goes down cortisol levels decrease and melatonin (the repair) hormone increases. Between the hours of 10pm-2am physical repair takes place (while you're working!) and then after 2am the immune /repair energies are more focused on mental repair.
So it is possibl;e that it can affect your performance. Hope this helps
James
Re: night shift
7th Oct '04, 9:46pm
Yes James your on the money. I went and saw a specialist and he told me that i was suffering huge amounts of muscle catabolism bc i was not resting after trainning. He also stated that i could be suffering from different sleep patterns which could also effect the levels of testosterone and hormonal production.
Night Shift
9th Oct '04, 8:56am
Being on night shift leads to major issues and problems with recovery. Idealy you need to have a dark room when sleeping and during the hrs of sleep your body recovers in this period.
It is suggested that when you are in deep sleep, after a rigourous workout your body builds muscle and repairs itself in that time.
Since you are on the graveyard shift then you need to adjust your training schedule accordingly.
When you return to a normal day shift and sleep patterns recovery time should come back to some sort of normality.
Rocket