I work a lot of double shifts at my job. My normal shift is on days, then I go home for a few hours and come back at midnight to work 16 hours. The first 5 or 6 hours are a slog, and I’m constantly trying to stay awake, but then I just reach a point where I feel “normal” so to speak, even energetic at some times. What causes this feeling? How do our bodies do this?
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Your body’s energy levels go up and down throughout the day according to a particular 24 hour cycle called the circadian rhythm. Your body uses many cues to tell where it is in the 24 hour cycle, like meal times, activity, temperature, and light.
When your body thinks that it’s time to go to sleep, it activates sleep mode by releasing lots of melatonin to make you sleepy, so that’s how you feel for a few hours. After a while your body metabolises all of the melatonin, and since you’re working (maybe you’re physically active too), and because of all the light you see, your body soon activates awake mode by releasing lots of cortisol to wake you up again. When you get your second wind, it’s your body basically saying “I’m going to stop trying to sleep now and instead I’m going to wake up and be ready for the day”.
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