I'm starting a new job next week, 11pm to 7am. Never done nights before.
Any words of wisdom on what times are best to sleep and how to deal with the weekends?
Thanks.
I work 10 x 4 from 8pm to 6am.I usually go to sleep around 7am to 2pm.And i still have enough time to do whatever i want to do and what not.
I`ve been working for 6 years 12-8 AM. You never get used to it. I don`t sleep much at home during the week. I usually sleep from 8-10:30 PM then get ready and go to work. I`m lucky enough that there is a few hours of " downtime" ;) at work to catch up. I also have a business during the day. If I only had one job then I can see going to bed at about 4 or five and then getting up for work. I would prefer to sleep and get up for work rather than sleeping when I get home and going to work after being up for 6 hours. If you have a family this might be difficult and have to sleep when you get home while everyone is out of the house. My fiance works for her self and from home most of the time so if we need to go somewhere during the week we go during the day.
On my days off, the first night I usually sleep about 10 hours, and go about my weekends like a normal person. You`ll figure out what works best for you. Just make sure to get your rest in the beginning.
Working nights has its advantages. You have the daytime to do stuff, like go riding with less traffic :D, running errands, going to the doctor or DMV when they are open without taking off from work.
I started at my current hospital on nights, 3x 12hr shifts. I double layered the curtains in the bedroom and was able to pull 6 hours or so of sleep during the day. I found the transition days the worst, I.E. that first 12 hour shift after living like a normal person for a few days. Since I provide hands-on medical care, I thought getting rest would be important. I was only able to get by a few months and was more than glad to accept a day shift when it opened up so no more vampire feelings for me. Good luck, night crews can be some odd ducks for sure.
I did shift work when I first started my corporate gig and the previous posters are right, you don't ever really get used to it. I'd run all my errands after work and treat the morning like the evening, then try and go to sleep around noon, sleep until 6pm or 7pm, then get up and watch some TV before going into work.
The only real advice I can offer is black out your bedroom with a tarp or something over the windows and turn off your phone because everyone calls while you're asleep. Also since you're eating at weird times and your body is sort of thrown off it's easy to gain weight or not eat right and feel like crap. I didn't ever master this until after I got off shift work (20 pounds heavier) so I can't really do much more than give warning.
Weekends were really weird. I tried to keep the same schedule and that didn't work. I tried to go back to a regular schedule, and that didn't work. You either end up yawning all the time, or becoming a pseudo-vampire. Best to just go with it.
G did for many years...I came home and woke her up for work, she came home and woke me up for school...rinse and repeat...
blackout curtains. room must be darker than during night.
phones off.
It may be ugly, but soundproof the room as much as possible too.... we actually hung thick replica tapestries. Looked like we were trying to recreate a castle in one room, but it worked and they were just lifted and hung over their bars when not needed. Cut a ton of noise from outside the windows.
If you're single, use the opportunity to find the bar where all the nurses go in the morning after a 12 hour shift.
I did nights for a while. I hated them unless they were on OT. Then Kaching! [thumbsup]
I slept as soon as the shift was over and usually got up around 1 or so.
They suck!
Dpending on your age waitresses in their 20's on dinner shift normally throw little get together parties after work. Get to know some you'll meet a whole new pool of people and its cheaper than bar drinking
Get on swing shift as soon as you can. It has the benefit of keeping a pretty normal schedule with the rest of the world and your commutes are off peak times.
What kind of work is it?
I worked night shift a couple times..
Stocker at a grocery store
3rd shift at Univ of Michigan's Aphasia Clinic
Both were second jobs and I was going to school full-time. Looking back, I can't believe I did it and would never want to do it again! I averaged about 3-4 hours of sleep/night for a couple years. It's bad enough working nightshift by itself and not doing anything else. Totally screws with your mind and body. I wouldn't recommend it but you gotta make money.
Quote from: Wanwo on January 30, 2010, 01:03:55 AM
Any words of wisdom on what times are best to sleep and how to deal with the weekends?
Go to the bar right after work-you'll be all fresh and once last call comes around, go to the after hours club. :D
I work 5:30 PM to 600AM, M-W. The way I do it is sleep from 630AM to 2ish on the work days but I get up at noon on my first day off. Then I am tired and ready for bed around 10 PM like a normal person on my "weekends".
I worked twelve hour rotating day/night shifts for three year awhile back.
By the end of the 3rd year I was read to harm people
ear plugs....thick curtains... white noise.... sleeping pills and a sleep mask all helped.
Quote from: bobspapa on January 30, 2010, 12:36:52 PM
ear plugs....thick curtains... white noise.... sleeping pills and a sleep mask all helped.
True, forgot about the "system". I use black art type poster boards (about 1/4" thick) over my dual pane vinyl windows. Then an air purifier for white noise.
did it for 30 years 2 week rotation nights were 5:30 pm to 4 am then some OT some times till 6 am
so i would get home unwind for about an hour ..read a book .. surf etc then sleep till 2pm then eat and do any errands
yes black out the window ...also earplugs are a must !!! shut off phone
watch what and when you eat ...you will gain weight
i did enjoy the night shift
I LOVE night shift, and keep that sort of schedule all the time. Always have, which made it hard back when I was still trying to fit in with the daytime world. I was that kid who kept falling asleep in class, but was awake with my flashlight under the covers reading at 3 and 4 am. My whole family are night owls, and I figure it's genetic for us. We all found careers that would let us stay up all night.
Blackout curtains are great, but they are usually ugly. If you don't want the damask or velvet, go to the fabric store and buy a roll of blackout curtain liner. It is usually around $3/yd, and have it sewn on to curtains you like. Those sleep masks are silly looking but they are a godsend. The best ones are the molded ones like you find at Bed Bath & Beyond/Linens n Things. Turn the ringer off. People don't "get" that you have to sleep during the day if you work all night. There are lots of quirky places that are open all or most of the night. You'll find them. You'll also discover there is a whole subculture of vampire-types out there, and we hang out and have movie nights and cook and stuff all night. It's fun.
I still think people are either day people or night people, and it is hard to force your body to live a schedule it doesn't like. I have tried to work day shift a couple of times, and inevitably I end up getting run-down and staying sick all the time. Even if I am able to fall asleep at night, I'm still wide awake and hungry at 2am, and energetic at 3-5am. Hopefully your transition will be easier.
Good luck!!
Quote from: Nitewaif on January 30, 2010, 03:59:11 PM
I LOVE night shift, and keep that sort of schedule all the time. Always have, which made it hard back when I was still trying to fit in with the daytime world. I was that kid who kept falling asleep in class, but was awake with my flashlight under the covers reading at 3 and 4 am. My whole family are night owls, and I figure it's genetic for us. We all found careers that would let us stay up all night.
Blackout curtains are great, but they are usually ugly. If you don't want the damask or velvet, go to the fabric store and buy a roll of blackout curtain liner. It is usually around $3/yd, and have it sewn on to curtains you like. Those sleep masks are silly looking but they are a godsend. The best ones are the molded ones like you find at Bed Bath & Beyond/Linens n Things. Turn the ringer off. People don't "get" that you have to sleep during the day if you work all night. There are lots of quirky places that are open all or most of the night. You'll find them. You'll also discover there is a whole subculture of vampire-types out there, and we hang out and have movie nights and cook and stuff all night. It's fun.
I still think people are either day people or night people, and it is hard to force your body to live a schedule it doesn't like. I have tried to work day shift a couple of times, and inevitably I end up getting run-down and staying sick all the time. Even if I am able to fall asleep at night, I'm still wide awake and hungry at 2am, and energetic at 3-5am. Hopefully your transition will be easier.
Good luck!!
I forgot about all the nighttime types like yourself that thrive on the night shift. I found that there were people that had been on Night shift for years, even though they could have got on a different shift. My brother in law is a night owl. Some times I go over there at the incredible late hour of 11:30 AM and only the kids are up. It amazes me because I have to get up just before dawn so I'm usually up for at least 6 hours been there done that and working on something else before I stop by, and they are just getting up.
Quote from: D Paoli on January 30, 2010, 05:06:31 PM
I forgot about all the nighttime types like yourself that thrive on the night shift. I found that there were people that had been on Night shift for years, even though they could have got on a different shift. My brother in law is a night owl. Some times I go over there at the incredible late hour of 11:30 AM and only the kids are up. It amazes me because I have to get up just before dawn so I'm usually up for at least 6 hours been there done that and working on something else before I stop by, and they are just getting up.
[laugh]Yep, that sounds like our house when I was growing up.
To answer your question "YES" and I hated every bloody one [bang]
For the 30 years that I worked at FoMoCo, I worked nights mostly before a new model launch as I was on a drive team that did the type approval and we used to do 12 hour shifts 7 nights a week for months on end. I never got used to sleeping in the day time but my buddy who worked opposite me would get home at 7.30am and sleep till 18.00pm and then dash back to work, I just don't know how he did it. Since retirement I think of all you guys still working the night shift and boy I take my hat off to you, I really don't think people who have not worked nights appreciate what its like to mix up your body clock. [clap] [clap]
[coffee]
Quote from: geoffduc on February 01, 2010, 02:03:34 AM
To answer your question "YES" and I hated every bloody one [bang]
For the 30 years that I worked at FoMoCo, I worked nights mostly before a new model launch as I was on a drive team that did the type approval and we used to do 12 hour shifts 7 nights a week for months on end. I never got used to sleeping in the day time but my buddy who worked opposite me would get home at 7.30am and sleep till 18.00pm and then dash back to work, I just don't know how he did it. Since retirement I think of all you guys still working the night shift and boy I take my hat off to you, I really don't think people who have not worked nights appreciate what its like to mix up your body clock. [clap] [clap]
[coffee]
I worked at a Ford assembly plant for 8 years. About 2/3 of that was night-shift work, and we were on 5x10 hour shifts. Many 8hr Saturdays, too, back in the mid-'90s. My hours were typically 5pm-3:30am, sometimes going until 5am if there was still work to do before the day shift showed up at 6am.
I always came home from work and went straight to bed. Slept for ~6hours/day during the week. I would wake up at noon, hang out at home all afternoon, then go to work for my 5pm start time. On the weekends, I'd sleep a little later, but I was always up late so my body schedule didn't get too far out of sorts. I'm a heavy sleeper, so I didn't need dark curtains. I did turn the phone ringer off, though.
We didn't have kids during my night-shift years. My hat is off to night-shift folks who are still able to balance their work/family schedules.
I've worked more nights than days. To the point that the only reason I wake before noon is my little girl. If it wasn't for that my internal clock is permanantly set to pm.
My family were always early risers yech, I'm definitely a night person.
One piece of advice, avoid energy drinks, even if you're tired you'll think better and be more productive tired than you will on Redbull.
The exception is Five Hour Energy... good stuff that, but if you take it, do it early, if you pop that top with three hours left to work you're going to be frustrated trying to sleep later.
Learn a way to calm yourself after work, the biggest challenge you'll face to sleeping during the day is shutting your mind down. If your mind is working your body no matter how tired won't shut down. Try some meditation, reading works for some, not me during day light, perhaps a relaxing movie and a tv on a timer.