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hey everybody my name is Eric Tongue I'm
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an active police commander and wellness
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coordinator for my department I've been
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in police work for 18 years and through
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that time as an officer sergeant etc
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I've worked every shift to include night
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shift or as we called it graveyard shift
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and night swing shifts So I know the
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challenges and I want to share with you
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a lot of tips Uh today in this section
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we're going to be talking about building
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resilience in your night shift teams And
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just to zoom out a little bit it's
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already hard enough to build cohesion in
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team dynamics when you have a lot of
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challenges Uh when you have challenges
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with timelines uh deadlines just
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different personalities and projects So
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that's already a challenge
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Organizational development we could do
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classes and we could all go to attend a
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lot of courses and get degrees and all
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that stuff uh but we are focusing in on
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the specificity of night shift and how
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that adds an extra layer of challenge So
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just to to zoom back out again by
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building resilience in night shift teams
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uh we're talking about team cohesion
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team culture and also individual
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wellness because highlighting and
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supporting individual wellness is going
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to highlight and support your team
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wellness So night shifts obviously have
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a lot of challenges that may be beyond
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often times more accelerated than other
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shift work Um there is just a sleep and
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energy challenge Uh there's a
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recuperative challenge Not everyone
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sleeps very well during the day Not
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everyone functions through the night
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It's not necessarily how our bodies are
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designed in nature But there are a lot
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of hacks There are a lot of things that
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we can focus in to support that So for
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resilience we are talking about building
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an adaptable and a durable body and mind
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and ability right so it all comes back
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to being able to do your job and
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function well to the best of your
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ability and your team's ability with
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that we want to be adaptable in our
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health and so I want to take a moment
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just to recognize and highlight how all
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health tenants are absolutely
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intertwined so we're not just talking
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about sleep issues When we're on night
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shift for those that have worked nights
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you also recognize that nutrition can be
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a struggle Um your access to certain
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foods or healthier options can be very
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limited due to what is available what
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restaurants or delivery services are
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open what access to food you actually
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have Uh in addition physical activity So
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you don't necessarily have the same
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access to gyms and uh exercise or
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training facilities if you're into
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sports or intramural kind of
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extracurricular type of active hobbies
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Um on top of that there are the
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challenges of just nighttime And so
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going out on a run is not necessarily as
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easy during the nighttime middle of the
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night as it is during the daytime So I
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want to highlight that all just to say
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that there are ways that we can build
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routines back in So by focusing on
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routine we can focus on the little
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things that might help a group of
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individuals So if you're talking about
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building cohesion in a team find the
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people that are uh interested and find
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and set up on the organizational side
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these outlets for people that do want to
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be more well They want to be more active
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They want to get in a group So walking
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clubs walking during a lunch break These
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are things that are very common in
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corporate uh entities government
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entities as well um all kinds of
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workplaces So just because you're
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working at night doesn't mean you can't
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do that Now there are additional
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benefits to doing that It's a lot safer
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for a group of people with lights and
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vests and uh a group awareness to go out
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in in the elements go out in the dark
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and be more visible be more safe if they
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are going to do some jogging or some
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walking during a lunch break Um also
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their strength and numbers right a lot
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of times we recognize from the public
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safety side that those uh out and about
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in the evening hours may be more
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susceptible to certain types of crime
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certain types of criminals do go after
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the quote unquote crimes of opportunity
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and oftentimes that is when people are
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more isolated when they are less visible
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to other people that may report or
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intervene something So again looking at
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uh routines like uh physical fitness and
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activity we can do that as a group You
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don't even have to go outside to do it
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It could be walking the hallways It can
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be walking the stairwells But doing it
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as a group can absolutely help that and
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it also builds team cohesion Uh there is
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something to the effect Uh the military
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learned it a long long time ago But
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embracing the suck in a group can
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certainly strengthen bonds Um you know
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we talked about physicality and fitness
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Let's talk about nutrition So we did
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highlight the fact that there are
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limited options at night often times So
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this is a perfect opportunity to meal
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prep And meal prepping can be a lot of
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work It takes a lot of intention at the
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front end of the week or midweek but you
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can also build in the team and do
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potlucks and you can do your normal
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potluck where everyone brings something
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in And if you want to help resilience
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and there are like-minded individuals
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that want to balance their energy levels
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better make healthier or have healthier
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options at their shift work You could do
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a theme where you do you know once a
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month maybe it is a little bit more
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healthy types of options and that's
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going to be group dependent uh culture
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dependent absolutely but there's no
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reason why you can't do all those things
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that folks may enjoy during the daytime
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just because you work at night Um
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commonality and community is integral to
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building relationships in any group And
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so any opportunity that you can build
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that cohesion like the events we just
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talked about absolutely be helpful in
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any work environment There are a lot of
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work environments that also have healthy
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social engagement outside of work right
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the common ones are happy hour this and
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that but we also recognize it doesn't
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have to involve you know going and
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smashing down some pub food having
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alcoholic drinks That's going to be your
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workplace dependent your work culture
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dependent as a first responder that's
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not really on the table for us at the
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end of the shift to go uh to go partake
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in that kind of thing But there are
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other things that I remember doing even
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when we had marked police cars that we
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would take home where we'd still be in
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uniform at 6:00 in the morning Uh often
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times we would all go to the local
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breakfast spot right it's kind of like a
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diner Uh but a lot of people would be
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starting their day and going there to
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have some some hash and some eggs and
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some coffee Meanwhile we'd be doing the
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same thing usually without the coffee uh
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that could disrupt sleep but having the
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eggs and having that communion and that
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time together Um so again just to recap
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there are a lot of things that you can
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do as individuals and any opportunity
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you can do all those things as a group
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is going to build cohesion So that's in
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and out of work when appropriate That's
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also just focusing on all these little
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things that you can do to to support
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individual health and thus group health
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So we talked about physical fitness we
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talked about nutrition we talked about
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social engagement Uh the last thing cuz
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we started there and talking about the
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challenges with sleep you could start a
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sleep challenge right you could have it
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socialized and normalized to talk about
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who is who is succeeding in sleep what
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they're doing share some tips You can
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also have people talk about how many
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hours of sleep they're getting and
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what's working Share back what's working
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right so people can set goals They can
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talk about how they want to cut down on
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their their device time when they get
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home at the end of their shift because
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that can absolutely disrupt sleep with
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stimulation with blue light Um some
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quick little tips might be blue light
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blocking glasses might be having caff uh
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caffeine-free uh types of tea so calming
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teas There's a lot on the market
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specifically geared to having calming
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herbs Uh but also a lot of people that
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might be chamomile Uh you may have heard
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of that as well So everyone's going to
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be a little bit different Also this is
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very individual but there's a lot of
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resources online free resources where
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you can look up things that will help
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you sleep Some people function really
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well when they cut food off entirely an
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hour or two before bed Other people
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might need to have a little bit of a
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snack But how that's designed you know
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balancing some some fat and protein is
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generally a recommendation Again very
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individualized Make sure that you do
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your research Uh potentially consult a
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doctor and focus on the small things
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like start small build habits start
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routines share that with your community
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share that with your work group and be
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patient with the process As you continue
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to try different things you'll
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absolutely be able to find some traction
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share that success and keep building
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upon that