Living That Nocturnal Lifestyle

by Ann Marie Damashek, GRI, CBR, SRES 04/14/2019

In today’s world, a more significant number of people work non-standard schedules. These new schedules can be anything from weekends and early mornings to completely nocturnal. Most alternative lifestyles are easy to plan for and work well with standard home designs, but overnight living requires some extra design work and planning. This article contains some tips to make your backward schedule easier on your body and your daytime family if you have one.

Design Ideas to Help You Sleep

One of the first things you need to do is invest in full-coverage blackout curtains and curtain rods. Full coverage curtain rods curve around the outside of the window instead of just going straight across. This allows the curtain to wrap around the window and touch the wall on both sides, blocking the majority of the light from outside. You can improve the ability to hinder light even further by attaching snaps or Velcro to the edges of the curtains and the wall and securing the curtain flat along the sides of the window. Getting the right curtains is necessary. You can double up on usefulness by getting insulated blackout curtains that block both light and temperature, helping keep your cooling and heating costs down.

Keeping Up the Sleep Cycle

It's essential to have clear “going to bed” and “waking up” routines that you use every day to keep yourself on track. Doing the same activities each morning before you go to sleep will help create and maintain habits in your brain, telling it that its time to increase your natural melatonin levels. In the evening when you wake up, having a similar waking up routine can help your brain increase your cortisol or “wake-up hormone” levels.

You can manage your sleep and waking hormones artificially as needed, especially if your schedule changes regularly, by using taking low doses of melatonin 1-2 hours before you want to go to sleep. Taking a dose of melatonin tells your body its time to start producing it. Between the synthetic melatonin and your body’s natural production, you can manage your own sleep cycle and switch it up as needed by just changing what time you take the melatonin.

Maintaining Relationships and Health

It's critical to ensure that if you have daytime family members or other relationships, you are awake for at least some daytime hours to maintain those relationships. This is where artificially adjusting your sleep schedule really comes in handy. It's also necessary to keep your Vitamin D levels high enough. One of the riskiest parts of being an overnight worker is that you don’t get enough sunlight to create enough Vitamin D for your body. You can efficiently resolve this by ensuring you take high doses of Vitamin D regularly. If you are concerned about taking high dose vitamins without the input of a doctor, you can get exactly the right amount by asking your healthcare professional for a blood test to determine your current levels.

Shopping for the right home to support your overnight lifestyle can be tricky. Make sure to let your real estate agent know about your overnight needs to get the best property for your lifestyle.

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About the Author

Ann Marie Damashek, GRI, CBR, SRES

Ann Marie Damashek has always been a natural at helping people prepare their homes for sale. She started out with a successful business selling goods for people on eBay. "Nine times out of ten they were hiring me because they were down-sizing,” Ann Marie says. "So I decided to get my license. I said, ‘Might as well sell their house too.’” The transition was a smooth one and for nine years she’s had a thriving full-time real estate business that allows her to marry her entrepreneurial spirit with her passion for helping others. With an office in Larchmont, New York, she serves all of Lower Westchester County, with her primary market in the Sound Shore region. The majority of her business is "sphere of influence” with former clients referring her to friends and family. A gifted communicator, Ann Marie quickly builds trust and rapport with her clients by being both thoughtful and responsive; she understands that during the purchase or sale of a home, a quick response time is crucial. "I am very accessible,” Ann Marie says. "I always make time for my clients. They can call me, text me, email me up until 10 o’clock at night and I will respond. I’m available on weekends. I get back to people very promptly. I’m very customer service-oriented.” Her clients appreciate her professionalism, passion and enthusiasm and as a result her repeat and referral rate continues to grow each year. While selling real estate is serious business, Ann Marie knows that at times humor and a moment of levity can be a relief to clients. While she has a laidback and easygoing personality, she can be assertive when needed on her clients’ behalf. She loves being of service to them, and the continually changing nature of the work keeps her engaged and fulfilled. "It’s never boring,” Ann Marie enthuses. "Every day is different. That’s probably what I like most about it. But I also enjoy helping people sell or buy and educating them about the process. I love helping them achieve their goals.” This ethic of service has resulted in well-deserved recognition. Ann Marie has received the Westchester Magazine Five Star Real Estate Agent Rating four years running, in 2015 and 2016 she was the #1 agent in her office, and she’s a Zillow 5-Star Premier Agent. To keep in touch with former clients, Ann Marie sends cards to mark special occasions or reaches out via email. To market her listings, Ann Marie uses Multiple Listing Services (MLS), as well as Listingbook.com, a service that allows both agents and their clients access to MLS data. She also uses a Facebook business page and ads to boost new listings or promote upcoming open houses. "That drives a tremendous amount of traffic,” Ann Marie says. She also uses the most popular real estate websites such as Zillow and Trulia. A strong believer in giving back, Ann Marie sits on the Board of Trustees of her church and is involved in a variety of social justice projects. She’s affiliated with Furniture Sharehouse, a furniture bank for Westchester County, which collects and distributes gently used furniture free of charge to those in need. "I love it on so many levels because as a realtor, it’s helps my sellers downsize through charitable donations. I like the environmental aspect of it as well. And it helps people who truly need things.” She’s also involved in Impact 100, a women’s philanthropic giving organization. In her free time, Ann Marie enjoys gardening, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. For the future, Ann Marie wants to continue expanding her business and developing her brand, and she someday hopes to grow a strong team. But her main goal is to stay in the real estate business, helping her clients to achieve their dreams.