How did you transition to working nights??

steve-in-kville

steve-in-kville

Joined
Dec 25, 2001
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I am considering a position with another company working nights. There is a pay "differential" for night shifts (i.e. more $$$$). This will be a permanant shift, nothing rotating.

How did you you get used to working nights?? When I worked in EMS, we basically slept when we could. But then we were doing 16's and 24's on, with 8 off in between.

Thoughts on this??

steve
 
I'd recommend sticking to a schedule or pattern of the time to hit the hay.

I worked a rotating shift for many years. After getting home in the morning after a midnight shift, I'd have a snack then off to bed. I'd wake up without an alarm (like that was a problem, right?) in the afternoon and then no naps or anything after that.

I only knew of one guy who stayed up during the day and got his sleep starting in the afternoon and woke up just before heading off to the jobsite.

One problem with my schedule was I had to get it out of my head of looking at the clock and counting down the hours til heading out the door.
 
I worked the 7pm to 5am shift for years, and I found that on my 'off' days I couldn't sleep normally, I had to keep the same schedule. If I tried to switch, I always felt crappy, but if I stayed on the same shift after a month or so I felt normal.
 
when I worked nights, Dopaminergic Stimulants, ( DexAmphetimine, Methylphendate, cocaines not to good for work cause ya gotta redose constantly, but if you must go the legal route energy drinks can be a godsend)
 
I worked 3pm - 11pm for 7 years.
It was really 3 'till we were done, sometimes 7pm, sometimes 10am. Yay advertising :D
In the beginning I kept to my usual routine.
Get up in the am, do chores and stuff before work. Go to work come home and crash.
Gradually I slept later and later. A couple allnighters in the same month will help that along. Stayed up later and later as well
By the last 2 years, I was waking up at 1:30pm, and rush off to work like I did when I worked days. Bedtime was between 4 & 6am.
Weekends I'd sleep till 4 or 5pm. It sucked in the winter, waking up in the dark.
The family referred to me as "The Count"
I highly recommend black venetian blinds and heavy dark curtains.

Been working days for a year and three quarters and am only starting to feel 'normal' again.

Good luck :D
 
i was used to a day schedule for several years, then got assigned to mid watch. 1300-2300.

i suffered for a couple months, now they are going to have to force me back on days.

sleep in, miss traffic both ways, less work. best of all worlds.
 
Like ebbtide says, make sure your bedroom is dark. Worked 3rd shift for 15+ years. I'd stay up after work and hit the sack around 14:00 hours. The only problem with this is that the activity around the neighborhood is just starting to ramp up. Kids will be getting home from school. Mom and dad returning from work and putting the dog out etc. I highly recommend a white noise generator. There's alarm clocks that have sound generators and I've found the "wind" setting the most effective. It's sounds basically like static. It really helps when it's cool enough for open windows. I've gotten so conditioned to it that I even use it with the air conditioner running.
 
I work 3rd most of the time.

Get off around 6AM, head home, putz around til around 8AM, then hit the sack.

Room has darkening shades, plus a dark blue fleece blanket to ensure darkness.

As the wife works days, and no kids, it is almost like a sensory depravation tank.

Took a while to get into a rhythm. I do this Sun night thru Friday morning, then sleep nights with the wife Fri and Sat night.

Being in management often calls for day-shift meetings and conference calls, and that screws things up.

I did find that Benedryl or its equivalent works great for a sleep aide when first making the adjustment. It is the sleep aide in Sominex, Tylenol PM, and other OTC nighttime remedies.

Often only get 4-5 hours sound sleep, then get up. If needed, I nap til the wife gets home around 6 or so.

Main problem I''ve seen and heard about is when people work 3rd, and still try to live a first shift life. The ol' bod just can't do for long.

You will also notice a change in you body's rhythms (gastro).

With time, you'll get used to it, and the shift diff helps....

Mike
 
I worked nights on-and-off, both with regular shifts and random on-call hours. Now I sometimes work through a night, sometimes two, and occationally three.

What I've discovered is that I can never get a full "night's" sleep during the day. Staying up for one night is OK, two nights is rough, and by the third night I'm a complete mess and it sucks more than anything has ever sucked before. I feel like sh*t, driving home is hazardous, and not falling asleep at my desk is impossible.

Staying up for one night, it takes two good nights of sleep to feel 'normal' again.

At the coal mine, the night shift was rough. I'd drive home just as the sun was coming up. Sleep for two or three hours, lay around the rest of the day feeling like crap, then head back to work. The long-timers said it takes two years to get used to the night shift and daytime sleeping. I didn't stay there that long...

I've had some factory jobs that were 2nd shift. That's not bad at all. Work from 4 pm until midnight, get home and in bed by 1 am. Have most of the next day off, then head back to work. That's very close to my prefered schedule anyway. And the work atmosphere after business hours was a lot more casual than day shifts.

Good Luck,
-Bob
 
We work 12's at my job. 1730-0530. I've been doing it for about 5 years now, and my normal routine is staying up until 0700, then crashing. On workdays, I get up at 1430, and on off days I get up at 1230. On off days, I try to go to bed when my wife does. (2330-0030) If that doesn't work, I'll stay up watching TV until like 0330-0400. On those days, I'm pretty much guaranteed to not get up until 1100. The schedule sucks, but I'd much rather be dealing with the job at night than during the day.
 
I started working nights in the Air Force, rotating 4 days evening, 4 days midnight, 4 days daytime, 4 days off. Survive that and anything else is easy. I could sleep anytime, anyplace, noise, light, whatever.

Post office was mostly 19:00 to 03:30. That was only rough because it conflicted with the rest of the family, but they made allowances for my occasional dead look.

Whatever the schedule is, you have to stay on it. Working nights during the week and and staying up all day on weekends will destroy you. I never used anything like drugs, but regular schedules and regular meals helps a lot.
 
Drugs -- even caffeine -- only work in the short run . . . then, they become more of a problem than a benefit.

Get used to sleeping shortly after you get home, and stay in bed until 2 PM. One triple espresso (with cream and raw sugar) a half hour before work will do wonders -- just don't take any more caffeine during the shift -- and stay away from over-the-counter stimulant pills. Few things worse than a caffeine hangover -- nauseous but can't puke, exhausted but can't sleep, and all jittery and ill.

It'll take a week to adjust, but then it'll be easy. I've worked nights for most of my life. Now I are nocturnal. Oh . . . you may need to start going to tanning salons for your vitamin D. :D
 
I worked nights for so many years that even when I worked days I stayed up most of the night. And now that I'm retired, I'm still up most of the night -- although this 5:00 )^$@ has got to stop. :p
 
tyr_shadowblade said:
just don't take any more caffeine during the shift

Few things worse than a caffeine hangover
Click to expand...

In post office mail processing, working nights around dusty machinery, bad lighting, noise, any excess caffeine was deadly. The smart people would stop by the ubiquitous water fountains regularly. Stay hydrated without getting waterlogged.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I worked nights for so many years that even when I worked days I stayed up most of the night. And now that I'm retired, I'm still up most of the night -- although this 5:00 )^$@ has got to stop. :p
Click to expand...

tell me about it :D

i basically switch my schedule after every weekend

naps are both my savior and my problem during the week

i agree with the caffeine comments, try to avoid that crap as a way to stay up. the caffeine/sugar crash is awful in the middle of a shift when you are on no sleep
 
I work a rotating shift and you will get used to it after awhile. When I get off midnight shift (6am), I will usually stay up till 8am then sleep till 4-5pm in my room which has regular blinds and thick navy blue curtains. Then start the whole process over again.

Where I start to get mixed up is when I have to work 16hrs and hurry back or going from night shift to day shift. It sucks but, my job is easy (usually) and it pays well so I do what I have to do. Afternoon shift is ideal but, that is the shift where you will miss the most home life activities.

A lot of people I work with sacrifice sleep to have a life. The problem with that is they are grumpy and you can tell that they are exhusted. Who can have fun doing "normal" activities when your exhusted?

My advice to you is get as much sleep as you need if you have time to get it and then try to live a normal life. There's no use trying to keep up with people who work normal day jobs. You will only kill yourself trying.
 
Other factors wil affect the way you handle it - like do you have a family and what are their schedules, or do you live alone.

I worked nights for many years when I was single and I liked to stay up after work to do whatever I had to do like shop or go to the laundramat and go to bed in the afternoon to arise right before work.
 
Very dark room, quiet, and taking a daily dose of melatonin. The melatonin helps with sleep cycles and getting a deeper more rested sleep. I've noticed that when I take it, even if I only get a few hours of sleep I feel much more rested. No need to really worry about side effects, melatonin is naturally produced by the body and there are no addictive symptoms if you don't take it. I usually get my at my local GNC maybe about $5 for a 2-3 month supply.

** Disclaimer: This works for me. I am not a medical doctor just some guy that's had trouble sleeping for many years and has had to transition from working days to nights often.
 
An interesting industrial engineering study showed that it took about a week to adjust to another shift !! So rotating is not good for you ! As far as regular nights it depends on your system , some have no problem , some do. Melatonin does help and will also help adjusting to time changes if you travel a lot.
 
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