How to Exercise as a Shift Worker
This comprehensive segment details various exercise styles—including calisthenics, weightlifting, and cardio—and how to adapt them to a night shift schedule. Dr. Pendergrst explains the benefits of exercising before a shift for alertness versus light activity after work to help the body transition into “night mode” for better sleep. You will also discover the 150-minute weekly goal and how to reach it using manageable 5-to-15 minute intervals. Safety remains a priority, with tips on warming up and recognizing when to scale back intensity based on your fatigue levels.
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So how can we address this? Well, we can
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learn more about exercise. And there are
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various styles of exercise. One of these
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styles is called calisthenics. This type
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of exercise is generally just a fancy
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way of saying body weight training. So
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there are exercises like body weightight
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squats, wall push-ups, which we see this
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individual doing here in this image, and
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planks. And these can be done anywhere
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that there's a clean and stable surface
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that we can put our weight against.
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Walking is also considered to be a form
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of exercise. In fact, brisk hall walks
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or walking on outdoor tracks could burn
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up to 150 or 200 calories in a 30 minute
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session. And over time, this could help
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us maintain our weight or even lose
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weight.
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Additionally, weightlifting, which is uh
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involves lifting heavy objects like
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dumbbells or barbells using full body
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compound movements like for instance the
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bench press which presses the weight off
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of our chest or deadlifts which lifts
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the weight off of the ground. Two to
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three times per week could help us to
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build our muscular skeletal system and
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our cardiovascular system to help us
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feel and work better. There's also
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cardiovascular training or cardio as
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they call it, which is cycling or
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jogging or rowing. And these types of
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exercise are done well when they're in
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short bursts because these short bursts
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of energy that we're using could help us
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feel less tired after working long
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shifts or unconventional hours. And then
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lastly, simple things like climbing or
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playing with children, though they don't
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necessarily feel like exercise, can be
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quite engaging to our muscles and to our
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body and allow us to enjoy training
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without really feeling like we're doing
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too much.
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Continuing here, um, in thinking of the
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types of goals that we may have, there
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are different exercises to approach
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different types of adaptation that we
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would like our bodies to experience. For
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instance, if we'd like to build
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strength, we can do squats or wall
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push-ups or lunges or glute bridges,
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each of which could be um if you'd like
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to see Google images or any sort of a
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YouTube video, you can search these
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online. These types of exercises can
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help us build the strength in our
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muscles. Additionally, if we'd like to
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just get better at walking around and
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moving and simply going through our
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daily lives, we could uh engage in brisk
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hall walks or walking on outside routes
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just to get our legs and our
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cardiovascular system accustomed to
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that. If we'd like to become more
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flexible, we can engage in stretching
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like neck rolls or hamstring stretches
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or shoulder mobility stretches that not
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just increase our flexibility, but also
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by holding our arms or our legs, our
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body in these positions can help us to
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build muscle strength in that position.
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And then additionally, if we'd like to
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improve our cardiovascular strength or
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our cardiovascular endurance, we could
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engage in maybe faster walking or stair
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climbing or marching in place because
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this is a bit more challenging and can
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prepare our um our hearts and our
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vascular systems to deliver energy to
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our muscles to perform in these
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circumstances.
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And if we're curious about how much time
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potentially we should be spending per
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week exercising, the general
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recommendation is to get about 150
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minutes of exercise per week. And this
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can be done in 5 to 15 minute intervals.
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For instance, if we'd like to exercise
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in 15-minute intervals, that's 10
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15-minute intervals in a week.
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Um, the next question we may have may
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be, what time should I work out? Should
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I work out before or after a shift?
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Well, each time is effective and the
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most um proper time to exercise is the
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time we feel like exercising. So, if
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we'd like to exercise before our shift,
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this could wake us up and could boost
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our alertness and carry that through the
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shift so that we're feeling better. If
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we'd like to exercise during our shift
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so that we're not having to work out
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before or after, we could do these micro
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movement snacks where we're exercising
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for 5 to 10 minutes on a lunch break or
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um another break period of time
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throughout the shift so that we can get
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that amount of time in. We could also
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exercise after work, which could help us
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not just unwind and forget the stress
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that we've had for the day, but also to
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help prepare our body for sleep. In most
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cases, especially for night shift
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workers, the aftershift routine should
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likely keep exercise on the lighter
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side. And this could involve walking or
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light weightlifting training or
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something like a light bicycle ride. And
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the reason for this is because keeping
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our body in a routine where we're
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leaving work or finishing work and not
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engaging in too stimulating of behaviors
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can really help us prepare for the
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nighttime regimen. And the nighttime
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regimen, uh, as we've mentioned in
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previous lessons, could include having a
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reduction in our exposure to artificial
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light, putting our phone in night mode
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so that we're seeing less bright um,
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emissions from our phone, maybe even
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engaging in some sort of a cool down
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breathing exercise at the end of our
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shift or prior to going to sleep. These
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type of behaviors can help us cool down
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and really put our body in night mode so
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that we can rest effectively. And as an
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aside here, we should also be
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considering the safety elements of
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exercise. We should be warming up for 1
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to two minutes prior to the exercise
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bout. This could be a brisk walk or some
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air squats. We should avoid heavy
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lifting or highintensity work if we're
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feeling particularly tired so that we
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can avoid accidents. And then also we
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should be stopping our exercise if we're
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feeling dizzy or short of breath or in
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an um an extreme amount of pain in order
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to prevent injuries so that we can
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continue to exercise consistently.