Blood Pressure and Nightshift (Part 1)

For all you folk wondering where I have been for the last few weeks the answer is, I have been on Nightshift. Yep, that’s right, working the midnight shift. Up until this point in my career I have never been required to work such unsociable hours. I guess it is much better to be in work at the moment than out of it! Anyway, I started the shift about three weeks ago now and have another four to five weeks to do. My initial concern was what impact is working nights going to have on my Blood Pressure? Is this going to be a big issue? What if my BP goes through the roof? Am I going to be forced to go on the medication before I even get started looking?
Anyway, a lot of questions and concerns of which were pushing me to go and see my Doctor. It is a heck of a lot easier to get a Medical pass than to take a risk with my health. In the end however I figured it was worth giving it a shot to see what if any impact it would have. There was I must confess a part of me also wanting to prove to myself that I could easily work nights. That Macho Retro Sexual Ego I guess!
I have now done four weeks of 5 day nights. Asides the potential impact on my Blood Pressure the hardest part so far has been coming off shift and trying to get into a normal sleeping pattern. I am sitting here on a Saturday morning ( 5.00am) having spent most of the night wide awake in bed. I will go back on shift Sunday night but I know for sure I am going to be up all hours tonight as well….
But I guess the big question is what impact all this has on my Hypertension?
Well, I am now 4 weeks in and I can say that from a Blood Pressure perspective at worst it has not been impacted at all and at best it has been slightly reduced. I have been tracking the readings and will publish in an update to this blog entry when I am finished in a few weeks.
What I have noticed so far:
Working nights; although tough getting into a routine once in it I have found that I am sleeping well during the day. Up until going on nights I would be regularly disturbed from my sleep. Usually through my good Wife elbowing me in the ribs because of my snoring or my Kids waking me up for the multitude of reasons only kids can come up with. (Dreaming of Giants and Monsters, coughing fits, Toilet etc. etc.)
Sleeping during the day is the perfect cure for all these little sleep interruptions. Simply make sure you have a dark room in a quiet part of the house and hey presto! Getting a good 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep is almost guaranteed. Kids are at school and the good Wife is out and about along with that elbow of hers!
Bottom line seems to be that getting a good restful sleep plays a big part in helping control Blood Pressure. Now if only we could bottle that and sell it! Ssssssssh, don’t tell the pharmaceutical giants!