My Fellow Night Shift Workers!

Just a really quick thread.

Night shift workers.

How do you cope?

I have done night shift for a few years now, I am working another one tomorrow so I am going to have to stay up to 03:00 tonight (if I can) then I am going to (well try to) sleep until late afternoon tomorrow so I can get up for a couple of hours then head of to work all night and then crawl back into my bed on on Tuesday morning, try to sleep for another few hours and then go work all of Tuesday night. Then next week i need to get back into a normal sleeping pattern.

So again my question is this.

My fellow night shift workers, how do you guys cope, with sleeping, eating, family life and just getting stuff done when you have to spend one week as a night owl and another as a "normal" person.

This night shift stuff does my head in, I love my job but any advice would be appreciated.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

I know it might be hard, but stop paying attention to the clock and listen to your body...

I work Nights regularly.... 11-7am... but I've been a night hawk most of my life...

Looking at the clock only reminds you that you shouldn't be awake... Let your body tell you when you're tired...

When you need sleep... sleep... the body only needs 6 hours to function... be sure to get it when you can

Sleep? whats that??

originally posted by: HomerinNC
Sleep? whats that??

apparently its some wired thing that involves a bed and the closing of ones eye lids.

but I dont really know.

Think i done it once by accident after heavy drinking.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Nights almost killed me. I didn't realize how much my body was put out of whack until I suffered cardiac changes. Be sure to eat lots of bananas to keep your potassium level up.

a reply to: aboutface

I have been doing nights for years now.

Its nothing new to me, I am really just curious about how other people deal with them.

I tend to eat a lot of fruit anyway.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

See when I was working the night shift, it was 7:15pm til 4 or 5 am. I'd get home, sleep right away, be up by 1pm and have all day to get things done, spend time with loved ones and so on til I'd leave for work around 6:50pm. I've been a 3rd shift sleeping kind of person since 5th grade, I'd pass out around 2am and school would be hard, but I thrive best on staying up all night and sleeping during the day. It's just my circadian rhythm.

I have never held a job where you bounced from day to night to day to night. That would upset me too much physically. Best way for people to thrive is to know when they are truly awake. ''Noon'' is not 12 in the afternoon for every single person in the world. "Noon" could be 6am, 4pm, 2am, midnight.

I dislike jobs that are, say, 8am to 5pm mon through friday. The ONLY way to get things done 'during normal business hours' is to miss a day or two of work. If you get sick/injured, miss a day of work to see doctor. I almost wish every business ever stayed open 24/7 so everyone can get things done. When the whole country is basically on a 9-5 schedule, it makes getting vital things done almost impossible without losing money to GET them done.

Try taking melatonin to help you sleep during the day, maybe an eye mask, maybe dark blinds/sheet over the windows, if you can sleep with white noise playing or earplugs in, do so. I sleep deep and great during the day, been doing it so long. BUT my body DOES let me know when it's craving sunlight and i DO listen to myself and I get my time in to recharge the desperately needed daylight.

Worked nights for about 17 years now, give or take.

Only get about 4 hours kip; if I sleep for 5 hours, it's like a lie-in.

You can either do nights or you can't. Fortunately I can.

But even for a seasoned pro like me, it gets hard to stay awake (usually around 4am for me).

The secret of my success involves an illicit substance.

Let's leave it there.

Well let's see. I got addicted to energy drinks. Those became my life saver. I am pretty much immune to them now.
Aside from that Sarra pretty much covered it. Make sure you take Vit D for the lack of sunlight.

The worst thing is phone calls and door to door sales men or religious people knocking during the day. Put a sign on your door saying you work grave yards any one who knocks on your door and wakes you up trying to sell you something agrees to buy something from you for no less than $100. Any person knocking on your door to talk to you about God agrees to convert to your religion. Make up some really cool cult name.

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin

originally posted by: HomerinNC
Sleep? whats that??

apparently its some wired thing that involves a bed and the closing of ones eye lids.

but I dont really know.

Think i done it once by accident after heavy drinking.

That is how I do it, I come home in the morning and drink, then go to sleep, or as I like to call it "pass out" for about 4 or 5 hours.

Been on night shift for a year now, cant get used to it, cant sleep in the day, spend all night wanting to be asleep in bed.....

It sucks, but it is paying the bills at present.

originally posted by: CJCrawley
Worked nights for about 17 years now, give or take.

Only get about 4 hours kip; if I sleep for 5 hours, it's like a lie-in.

You can either do nights or you can't. Fortunately I can.

But even for a seasoned pro like me, it gets hard to stay awake (usually around 4am for me).

The secret of my success involves an illicit substance.

Let's leave it there.

Bingo!!!!!!

Well I have been a night owl most of my life and so has my son. I now work a second shift job and I hope to never go back to day shift.

Any way when I was working 3rd shift I would eat a heavy breakfast then go to sleep till around noon then get up do stuff then lay back down around 7 take a couple hour nap then go to work...That worked for me. I just never glanced at a clock while I was at work.

I've worked nights for 22 years but mostly on continental shifts which involved only 2 or 3 nights per week. These were from 2200 to 0600. I was never really tired during the shifts and loved finishing and going home when everyone else was either just getting up or already going into work. What a buzz!

I was usually asleep by about 0700 - 0730 and was up by about 1300 - 1400. I then felt that I had the rest of the day to do as I pleased before starting to get ready for work at about 2000 hours. The days after the last night shift were rest days so I usually got up a bit earlier and got myself ready for my days off.

I'm not sure why it is but I just really enjoyed the night shifts. Sorry I can't help any more.

About 15 years ago, somewhere I worked for a few years, tried night shifts that meant basically being effectively awake and ''on call'' on site from 11pm to 9am.

It was the most unnatural thing, it was really depressing, I was tired all night on shift, I got ill, I couldn't sleep properly during the day, I couldn't get things done during office hours, I was all out of sync, it was like some sort of twilight zone.

Since then, more studies have been done that have proven that night shift is unhealthy.

www.theguardian.com...

Is working night shifts bad for you?
A new study claims that working nights can disrupt gene activity after only three days – and the health dangers are thought to include an increased risk of breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart attacks. Does it worry nocturnal workers? And are there any advantages?

Due to the unsociable nature of my job I work shifts and I do have to do nights every so often. I always work 12/13 hours shift, usually 0700 to 1900 or 2000 and nights 1900 to 0700 or 0800. Hard but I only work 3 days a week, still full time.

I can't sleep during the day, too noisy and I can't relax like I do at night. I also have children but luckily having 2 teen boys helps. I hate working nights...I am a morning person, I like to get up early and enjoy the day.......we are not naturally build to be awake all night, but certain professions have to be available around the clock.

I think being a very active person and eating good homemade food helps me cope....and having a positive outlook.

Worked as a detox charge nurse on the 11p-7a shift for 5 years.

Get room darkening blinds and curtains and unplug the phone.

I even hung a sign over my doorbell that said "night worker sleeping, do not disturb".

My wife was on days and I was the newest hire. Which meant rotating on all 3 shifts, which I couldn't adjust to, so I switched to straight nights.

Once I was into the routine it was fine, but extended time off messed with my internal clock.


I avoided coffee and energy drinks because they never seemed to keep me awake unless I wanted to sleep.

I did little exercises and drank very cold water if I got too tired.

I worked night shift for about a year and three months back in the early eighties. I didn't mind it, I worked from nine thirty to seven thirty. I don't think I would like a rotating shift though, switching between the different shifts every week would be disruptive.

I don't COPE WITH night work and night living...I COPE WITH day
work and day living.

As an OTR trucker and local delivery trucker for the last twenty
years I have found that driving, living, shopping, etc. is MUCH easier,
less time consuming, and less stressful than daytime living.

I work 6 to 4am. I sleep 9 to 5...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

How do I cope? I get off work and grocery shop the newly stocked
shelves, no line at the checkout and no shoppers clogging the aisles.
I come home, make breakfast and get the kids off to school. If I have
(daytime) matters to attend to, I grit my teeth, venture out into early
morning traffic, (usually have a thought or two about how rude, arrogant,
and selfish most people seem to be) take care of my bill, or my taxes,
or whatever it is that is forcing me to move around and interact with
these mostly harried and self-centered day-walkers...then
I'm back to bat-cave where I breath a large sigh of relief that
I don't have to participate in this daily rat race on a regular basis.

Not a week goes by that I am not asked by co-workers....Why don't you
go days?

My standing, semi-truthful answer is....I'm allergic to daywalkers

I found that whenever i was on nights that the energy drinks and coffee were completely ruining me. Sure they kept me up at night and got the night over but they also kept me wakened during the day. Replaced those with pure water and some blackout blinds and I slept like a baby.
As for the cross over from nights to days, I used to sit up all day on a Friday after work and go to bed at nine or ten pm. That was not a very good idea. Go home get a normal five or six hours and get up as normal. I would then hit the hay around two am, force myself if needed. On the Saturday night I would cut that by an hour and then Sunday would cut it again. Monday morning is brutal but then it always was.

a reply to: oblvion

I come home in the morning and drink, then go to sleep, or as I like to call it "pass out" for about 4 or 5 hours.

Not a great idea that - I used to do it and developed a drinking problem in about 5 seconds.

Try and avoid alcohol at all costs, whatever you're doing. It's the devil's drug.

I'm not advocating illicit drug use either...but if you're going down that road you could do a lot worse than what I do.

I'm not addicted after many years of using it (not abusing), though it does rather interfere with daytime sleeping.

It's not uncommon for me to go 2 or 3 days and nights without any sleep (except the unavoidable 10 second microsleeps at work).

But then I only work 3 nights a week, so I've got the rest of the week to catch up.