Adjusting to shift working.

[TopCat]

I'm just getting ready to do a 21:30 to 06:00 shift. It's a week of this in a five week rolling rota. Going from 09:00 to 17:00 to night shifts is a tad hard. Fatigue generally does not make me a kinder, nicer person. I will try with both hands.

I am not confident of getting much sleep after work this week. My cat will not approve of me being in bed in the day time. He will no doubt be a bastard. People knocking on the door, birds tweeting (bastards). Will probably walk over to Borough market when I finish and have a couple of pints and a breakfast.

Any other night workers out there?

 

[A380]

Haven’t done a full night shift for about five years. I would normally go to bed for a 90 minutes/ couple of hours before the first nigh. I wouldn’t normally sleep but it did convince my body that I hadn’t been up for 24 hour plus.

I did notice readjustment got harder once I went past 40; coming off nights got harder. I used to be able to sleep for a couple / three of hours after the last one get up. Be fucked that afternoon evening and then back on ‘normal’ time the next day. After 40 it took me two or three days to get back to normal, which was a right pain.

 

[Yossarian]

I went off night shifts a few years back, though I've still got a few 4:30am starts in the mix to fuck up my sleeping patterns.

I used to sometimes end up at the Market Porter when I worked nights in the area but if you're only in the pattern for a week I maybe wouldn't lean into it too hard - if you can get a reasonable amount of sleep in a room that's at dark as possible and still be up in time to get a bit of daylight, I think it's a little gentler on the brain/body than going fully nocturnal and it makes it easier to get back to normal when the night shifts are done.

 

[nogojones]

Not done nights for years, but treat it like you've been out raving. You'll get home still a bit wired from work so have an hour to chill and relax, then try and get some sleep. Good blackout curtains and blinds, earplugs . Make sure the kitty has lots of food. He'll see you're weak and disorientated, take advantage and try to get an extra dinner out of you.

Straight rolling nights ain't too bad and you adjust in a couple of days. It's the swing from nights to mornings that used to fuck me. When does your last night finish and how long off till your next shift? We'd get 48hrs finishing at 6am then getting back to starting at 6 48 hrs later. I found the most effective strategy was to find an out of the way corner in work and build a bed to get a couple of extra hours on that first morning.

You'll be amazed how easily you'll be able to sleep in the most uncomfortable places in work after the switch from nights to mornings.

 

[kalidarkone]

Haven't worked nights for 2 years and feel much better for not. I was finding it harder and harder to turn it around back to days afterwards.

 

[davesgcr]

Hated night shifts - you have my sympathy. Only thing I can advise is eat properly before you go to work , and not eat again until you get home. Tea only.

(however , being on call is bad - you never sleep properly)

 

[TopCat]

I’m going for a sneaky lie down.

 

[Raheem]

A long time since I've done night shifts. I used to love it because I got extra money and by the end I'd be laughing at anything, like I was on drugs. Like I say, though, it's been a long time.

 

[TopCat]

Went for an early pint in The Market Porter. Nice chat and a couple of Guinness to wind down. 4 more nights to go.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I haven't done it for a long time, pre wife and kids.
There were some aspects I liked about it. My night shifts were more like 7pm to 3 or 4am so didn't change my sleep routine too much at the time. Early dinner, go to work, come home go straight to sleep. Get up about 11am - 1pm, lunch, bit of day to myself, dinner . . work. The only difference being that the 'bit of day to myself' came before work rather than after it.
Not sure I would be so up for it now with family and all that. I guess if I was working later I would come home, make daughters lunch, see her off to school, go to bed, get up 3pm, do normal day chores, dinner around 7pm, and instead of going to bed i'd be going out to work.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I'd struggle to do night shifts now in my fifties. One of the benefits of shift-working, years ago, was that I gained the ability to nap during the day, which I'd previously never been able to do before. Having a nap helps. Also, as someone else has already pointed out, blackout blinds and earplugs. I'd also recommend putting your phone on do not disturb or turning it off and also turning your doorbell/intercom off. There's nothing worse than dozing off after a night shift, only for your phone to ring and wake you up after an hour or so.

 

[TopCat]

Just awoke! Six and a half hours kip.

 

[TopCat]

The cat left me alone (well fed), no one knocked (do not disturb sign), ear plugs, (whilst useless for blocking snoring 8 inches from ones head) worked well for random noise and a big sun blind mask kept the light out.

 

[TopCat]

Am on third pint of Guinness in market pub.
Looking alarmed at all the really awake types. Reminds me of coming home early after raves many moons ago.

 

[sim667]

Yeah I do them and switch round all the time. My trick is after the last night shift to stay up as long as humanly possible until that point you feel like your vibrating and then sleep, hard.

 

[TopCat]

Yeah I do them and switch round all the time. My trick is after the last night shift to stay up as long as humanly possible until that point you feel like your vibrating and then sleep, hard.

Thanks for the advice. I was wondering how to readjust to day shifts.

 

[Yossarian]

Yeah I do them and switch round all the time. My trick is after the last night shift to stay up as long as humanly possible until that point you feel like your vibrating and then sleep, hard.

Yeah, you definitely want to avoid the quick nap in the early afternoon that turns into a long sleep that leaves you feeling refreshed and wide awake at midnight.

It wasn't until I was doing night shifts that I realised how much of the feeling fucked after being at a party all night was just from the being up all night.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Yeah, you definitely want to avoid the quick nap in the early afternoon that turns into a long sleep that leaves you feeling refreshed and wide awake at midnight.

It wasn't until I was doing night shifts that I realised how much of the feeling fucked after being at a party all night was just from the being up all night.

When I started napping, it was because I was doing double-shifts, 06:00-12:00 then 15:00-22:00-ish. We used to have a driver who'd pick us up and take us home, so after quickly scoffing down some lunch, I'd lie down and have a nap for an hour, hour and a half, because being picked up and driven back to work for the next shift.

I agree that having a long sleep in the day is bad, it means you won't sleep properly at night, but having a brief nap can mean you function for the rest of the day/evening.

 

[Yossarian]

The only nap I trusted was the "coffee nap" - drinking a coffee then napping for around 20 minutes until the caffeine kicks in.

 

[savoloysam]

I used to do the continental shift pattern. While lots of people loved it for the days off, I hated as I could never adjust back to days and would often get by on just two hours a night before day shifts and I would hit the wall when I came off nights and felt like a zombie.

 

[nogojones]

I used to do the continental shift pattern. While lots of people loved it for the days off, I hated as I could never adjust back to days and would often get by on just two hours a night before day shifts and I would hit the wall when I came off nights and felt like a zombie.

I hated continental. Just continually jet-lagged.

As for TC, my way of dealing with the nights to mornings change was go straight to bed say 7.00 and set the alarm for 12.00-13.00, you'd still be a bit tired that evening, so you'd be able to get a normal nights sleep and you'd not miss a days/nights sleep, even if one of them was only 3-4 hrs. It's better to get 4 hrs then than the night before a 4.30 alarm.

Still a shit turnaround, but it was worked best for me

 

[maomao]

Am on third pint of Guinness in market pub.
Looking alarmed at all the really awake types. Reminds me of coming home early after raves many moons ago.

I used to work nights in Vauxhall and always had a can of something strong on the tube home to North London at 7am. I always enjoyed the looks I got.

 

[hash tag]

I regularly do 7 straight nights from 23.00 to 07.00 and try to keep my sleep patterns as close to how they would be normally ( my "commute" is minutes ). Finish work at 7. Home to bed to sleep for as long as possible. Normally awake and up around 11. Potter around, go back to bed around 6 and get up at 10. At end of last night I try to keep going but probably with a quick nap as I want to try and get back to normal hours asap.

 

[sim667]

Thanks for the advice. I was wondering how to readjust to day shifts.

There's two schools really, some people stay up late as possible, so go to bed and get up after 3/4 hours sleep. I'm normally absolutely done in though after 3 12 hour nightshifts, so I know I won't get up early, so just stay up late. The thing I find hardest is getting my body clock ready for my early starts.

I should be moving to a 4 on 4 off rota as part of my added role I've got at work now, which means a switch from early to night each set of 4 shifts and then switching back on my 4 off....... I hoping the routine of doing it will make it easier. Quite often at the moment I finish a night and then I have that day to sleep, one day off and then am expected at 6 am the day after that.

 

[Riklet]

Do you want to be back to night shifts TopCat ? it's great you feel up to it but surely if its too much you can mention health stuff to get out of it?

I didnt mind working til 10pm but cant imagine doing full nights personally.

 

[TopCat]

Do you want to be back to night shifts TopCat ? it's great you feel up to it but surely if its too much you can mention health stuff to get out of it?

I didnt mind working til 10pm but cant imagine doing full nights personally.

One week of nights in five gets me an additional 24%. I can't live without it.

 

[hash tag]

With me, about nights, I get can get to clients and back more easily and the office is much quieter, no bitching, no arguments and no management.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yeah shifts bumps up the income somewhat. I have to do earlies and lates but not nights fortunately.

 

[TopCat]

It’s a bit bleak at 4am. Be better in the summer.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

It’s a bit bleak at 4am. Be better in the summer.

Yeah. We used to call it 'the ghost shift'. I've only done it a handful of times back when I was contracting. Hated it. Full respect to those doing it.