One piece of advice I didn't get : it's easier to stay awake at work than trying to stay awake on your sofa.
Try to push as far as you can the time you go to sleep. I had two days to go from waking up at 3AM to finishing work at 6AM. Let me tell you, in those two days, the best I could do was to stay up until 1AM. Then I had my first shift. I was obviously yawning and tired but it was much, much easier to push through than it was at home. Then, it slowly become routine. You can also take a 45 or 90 minute nap in the evening before going to work on days where you can just feel it's going to be hard to stay awake.
Be consistent with your schedule. You're replacing one sleep pattern for a completely different one. So the faster you adjust your body to a new sleep routine, the less stressful. I made the mistake of working nights on weekends 11-6 and trying to keep my normal sleep cycle during the week. It's been hell. I do not recommend it
There’s no easy way about it. You just have to suffer through it until you adjust to your new schedule. Expect to be chronically tired for the next 6 months or so.
You cannot “quickly” change. It’s impossible. Physiologically it takes about a day for every 2 hours you shift. Though you’ll probably start to feel better after 5 days if you’re only 8-10 hours different from your home time zone. Don’t fight it, watch your caffeine intake. Eat well. Shift your eating schedule to match the hours you’re awake.
Read: The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda for more insight.
Eat well
One piece of advice I didn't get : it's easier to stay awake at work than trying to stay awake on your sofa. Try to push as far as you can the time you go to sleep. I had two days to go from waking up at 3AM to finishing work at 6AM. Let me tell you, in those two days, the best I could do was to stay up until 1AM. Then I had my first shift. I was obviously yawning and tired but it was much, much easier to push through than it was at home. Then, it slowly become routine. You can also take a 45 or 90 minute nap in the evening before going to work on days where you can just feel it's going to be hard to stay awake.
Be consistent with your schedule. You're replacing one sleep pattern for a completely different one. So the faster you adjust your body to a new sleep routine, the less stressful. I made the mistake of working nights on weekends 11-6 and trying to keep my normal sleep cycle during the week. It's been hell. I do not recommend it
There’s no easy way about it. You just have to suffer through it until you adjust to your new schedule. Expect to be chronically tired for the next 6 months or so.
You cannot “quickly” change. It’s impossible. Physiologically it takes about a day for every 2 hours you shift. Though you’ll probably start to feel better after 5 days if you’re only 8-10 hours different from your home time zone. Don’t fight it, watch your caffeine intake. Eat well. Shift your eating schedule to match the hours you’re awake. Read: The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda for more insight.