Best way to suvive working nights

[pigtails]

I'm just in the middle of my first lot of night shifts, I'll be doing a week of four nights once a month, and just wondered if people have any tips on the best way to survive.

Yesterday I went to bed not long after I got in and slept for about 4 hours woke up did some stuff then went back to bed at 6ish and slept for another hour and a half........ I felt fucked last night going into work so today I'm gonna try and stay awake for a bit then go to bed about 12 get up at 7 and just get ready and go to work as I would if it was morning.

Any tips much appreciated!

*yawn*

 

[dessiato]

In my experience the way you are doing it works. The other thing is to not do much the first day of the rota. I sometimes had to do long stretches of up to three months of nights. I always slept when I was tired regardless of the time of day. Get other half to take over the more routine chores so that you can rest when you need to.

One word of warning. There will be times when you are tired, and aware that you are close to sleeping. Avoid driving in this case. I nearly killed myself through being over tired and driving. I hit the center reservatioin of the A1, it woke me up very quickly and scared me half to death.

 

[pigtails]

Thanks, and that sounds fucking scary!!! Don't live far from work so could walk home if needs be.

 

[wiskey]

I do 7-7 nights, I tend to sleep as much as possible of the day before and spend a few nights staying up later and later to get into it. When I get home I go to bed by about 8 and sleep until 4ish. I try not to eat after midnight as it screws up my metabolism, when I started I thought I could just transfer my day routine to nights but that really didn't suit me. Also keep drinking water as I find nights dehydrate me.

 

[pigtails]

Yeah I've already worked out the water thing! It's a bit weird!

Yesterday I just felt like I had a major comedown!

 

[hash tag]

Ive done about 15 years of working shifts which included a week of nights every couple of months. Ive also done voluntary work on nights before that.
I got little or no support or advice at all and I now feel so much better for not working nights any more. The pay is a lot less but what the hell, life is
too short.
Little interesting info here for people

Heart attacks, diabetes, divorce: tackling the dangers faced by UK’s army of night workers

Night Club, which has helped more than 10,000 workers recover their physical and psychological wellbeing, now has four demands for Labour

www.theguardian.com

 

[seventh bullet]

I've been working permanent night shifts for 20 years now. I prefer it.

 

[Epona]

I've been working permanent night shifts for 20 years now. I prefer it.

N (my partner) does permanent night shifts too, it's a pain in the arse cos it makes normal socialising difficult, but in a way it's preferable to doing alternating shifts, because there's more of a regular pattern to it.
He does 5-6 nights a week and really needs a bigger block of time off, a 4 on 3 off or 3 on 4 off pattern of longer shifts amounting to similar sort of weekly or monthly hours would be better, but the place he works isn't somewhere that offers that (freshness of goods for morning delivery is a factor in that)

 

[seventh bullet]

I've regularly been doing 70 hrs a week over the past year. Did a stint of 29 (10 hr) shifts without any time off over March/April. It's not for everyone.

 

[seventh bullet]

That's not a bootlicker flex, btw. Our employer relies on a small, core group of workers to get shit done, given the constant churn of recruits who simply can't hack it. This opens up regular overtime opportunities. Very soon my mortgage and all other debt will be gone plus a nice little buffer. Then I'll be spending most of my time sat on my arse or in bed, reading, with my working hours greatly reduced. I'm aware plenty of people in this shithole of a society are doing the above just to survive. It's just a temporary 'knuckle down' situation rather than economic compulsion for me. I'm lucky.

If you're new to nights, then aside from adequate sleep and simply getting rest between shifts, diet is VERY important. Don't reach for the junk, no matter how tempting.

 

[hash tag]

I've escaped nights and feel so much better for it
I worked in a small team and while there at me and two others were diagnosed with cancer and another had a heart attack.

As seventh bullet says, diet is very important. I tried to keep my meal times and close as possible to normal times. I tried and often failed to avoid junk food and chocolate while on shift.
I found if I could be arsed, exercise helped and I always tried for two sleeps ( both were shortish ). The scientific reason why two sleeps are better than one