how do you cope with midnight shift work?

I have questions for the guys who work midnight shift. I just applied to a Help desk analyst job that requires shift work.

How do cope with drowsiness?
Do you take coffee all the time ?

Do you usually get scrutinized by supersivor at night ?
Does your health deteroriate over long period due to shift work?

My wife is a Nurse and only works night shifts. On the day of her first shift she will nap. If it's a 12 hour shift (7:30 pm to 7:30 am) she will nap for 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon. If it's an 8 (11:30 pm to 7:30 am) she will sleep from 8 to 10:30 in the evening.

It is very important to have a pitch dark room for sleeping in during the day. If you need to use the bathroom during your sleep it is important that the bathroom and path to it be dark also. Any bright light will switch your body to day-shift time. So black-out blinds are a must.

She also runs a fan on high to make white noise so that traffic and other noises don't wake her.

Our house has central AC but we installed a window AC in the bedroom since she needs it quite cool to sleep well during the day and there is no point in making the whole house frozen. Having a cool room to sleep in is a big help.

So basically getting proper sleep before and during your night shift stretch is very important.

She does drink coffee during the night and Coke. It's best to stop a few hours before the end of your shift so you can sleep when you get home.

Some of her co-workers have a little nap during their lunch break but she doesn't.

Studies show that shift workers die younger, but she's 5 years younger than me so she'll likely still outlive me.

Good luck - Greg

I've worked from about 4:30 PM to 1AM for more than six years and I actually prefer it to 'normal' hours. I live alone, so your mileage may vary. It's very peaceful when going home and I enjoy the dark and solitude. I live close to work and firmly believe that a long commute to and from work is much worse for your health. For me, it's about a 6 minute drive to work and about 11 minutes by bike in the summer.

Assuming you mean the grave shift (like til 5 or 7 am) I can offer the following advise:

- Sleep is very important, so don't sacrifice it for other activities. Block all the sunlight you can in the window(s) and wear earplugs if there is noise that wakes you up. Try to reschedule any gardners with leaf blowers or power movers to the late afternoon if possible.

- On your days off try to keep a similar schedule so you don't continually shock your body. I started to take hikes in county parks on my nights off, and I still do so 19 years later. You may wish to find something else.

- Whatever job you have, keep your mind stimulated with something or the hours will really drag. Whether it's a book or computer, do something and the graveyard shift will fly by.

I have worked in emergency communications, 911 and dispatching and worked the 11-7 shift and you know its really not all that bad. What I think you will find is you will be tired more on your time off or days off then you will be during the working hours. You are likely to be in a flourescent lit room and I would guess won't be right next to a window so as far as your subconscious is concerned it might as well be noon.

Come home and get sleep. Block out the sun, make sure the room is cool. That about covers it. Coffee and soda helps on those slow nights, as does a book or something else to keep you occupied.

The hardest thing for me was the going in to work on one day and coming home on another day. That kind of played havoc with my system or perception of my time off. It just felt like I had less time off even though I did not.

Chris

It's not too bad when you can stay on midnight shift on your days off. But when I go in tonight I'm going to be dead because I stayed up during the day on my days off to do some yardwork. Times like this, the first night back and the morning after are a bear.

I work in shifts too. In a tech job (Network controller), I have the best shiftroster ever!! I work in a 10 day cycle, so not synchronous with the normal calendar weeks (say goodbye to the social life!) and then I get to deal with the following:

I start my cycle with 2 days earlyshift (07:00 - 15:00), then 2 days lateshift (15:00 - 23:00) and I finish it off with 2 nightshifts (23:00 - 07:00). Then I have a 4 day weekend (of which you lose 1 day because you just came off the nightshift) Then there is 3 more days to get yourself adjusted again for the earlies... Sounds like crap huh?

Well, it isn't First of all, I only have to get up early 2 times every 10 days. the other 8, I can sleep late... Then there is commuting, when I go to work or come home from work, I'm not bothered by the rushhour traffic. At first I thought I'd never get used to this, but 1.5 years later, I love it. Shift allowance is nice, I get to stay up all night so I can play with my flashlights on my breaks. I actually got used to this roster. Once every few months we have to work 2 weeks on dayshift. Those 2 weeks are the worst there is...

In other words, you'll get used to it eventually, but do expect to have a hard time at first. Also your social life can suffer. I don't need much to stay awake, as I'm a bit of an insomniac and also take meds for ADD which keep me awake (same stuff is also used for narcoleptics), but if I do feel the need for a little extra pick me up, I usually make sure plenty of diet coke is available or have some Penguin Mints (http://www.peppermints.com/html/products.html)

Get your sleep don't be tempted to remain awake cause everyone else is, get your sleep.

I don't have experience working graveyard (3rd shift / overnight), but I have been working swing shift (2nd shift / night) for about 18 months now.

There are upsides and downsides to working 2nd shift. Upsides: that the hours are somewhat closer to what most other people are used to (you go to work during the day and leave at night), you have time for errands before work, and traffic is usually a breeze. Downsides: you can't do much anything after work (save for visiting whatever 24-hour businesses are in your area; Wal-Mart is my freind), socializing after work isn't going to happen unless you hang out with co-workers or know anyone else working your shift.

Shift work will change your perception of time. Basicly, your ideas of "morning," "afternoon," and "night" will become highly elastic. During any given 24-hour stretch, you'll find yourself working about 9 hours, sleeping about 8 hours, commuting however long, and the balance is your for ... whatever. Assuming you get back-to-back days off, your "Saturday" and "Sunday" may not fall upon said days of the week. My weekends are Friday/Saturday. Every time a new schedule comes out, the question is inevitably asked: When's your Friday? ... with the answer typically not being "Friday."

I've been fortunate to have a stable schedule for so long. I work from 3PM - 11:30PM. If I'm feeling ambitious or have some errand to run during the day, I get up around noon and head into work around 2PM (Dallas traffic being highly variable). I leave work at 11:30, get home around midnight, and try to turn in around 4AM. I'm accustomed to the hours now (sort of like being in college again). Any caffiene I ingest is more compensation for poor sleeping habits than anything else... I'd like to get onto a late-morning shift (10:00AM - 6:30PM) since working "Seconds" is slowly driving me nuts.

Some people like working third/overnight shifts instead of second shift... At the end of the day you can go out and do things, which seems to work better than trying to run errands at the beginning of the day.

Wherever you work, I hope it's a more 24-hour friendly place than Dallas, which seems to roll up the sidewalks around 9PM.

cobra-ak said:

Get your sleep don't be tempted to remain awake cause everyone else is, get your sleep.

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Wise words... much better to sleep when you can than to be "chemically awake" :laughing:

MayCooper said:

Wise words... much better to sleep when you can than to be "chemically awake" :laughing:

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Agreed. Caffeine only goes so far and you build up tolerance faster than you might think. Stronger stimulants aren't so legal and have a nasty tendency to do Bad ThingsTM to you...

I never work 12hr shift in my life. I hope to get the job. I really need it.

I worked midnight shift for most of my first 5 years on the police department. I never had any trouble staying awake, but that is probably just me. My body always seemed to function better when I was up all night.

My routine for night shift was a mirror of a normal persons day shift routine. I would not sleep right away when I got off at 8am. Day shifties don't go to sleep whan they get home, so I figured it did not make any sense for me to go to sleep. I would stay up and do things until about noon. Then I would go to sleep and get up to go to work.

to Ras:

if you go to bed in afternoon and wake up later for work, wouldn't this routine gets really dull after 1week. The mind would be dead.

How do cope with trip driving home after work? Do you get really tired, sleepy?

When I delivered newspapers with my folks on a rural route, midnight til 7am, your world is basically flipped up side down.

Many cases its hard to get to sleep at night or late afternoons and you have a choise of staying up or fear a nap may turn into 8 hours of sleep and you miss your job.

At best, Ive gotten 4-5 hours of sleep for a day. Either in the mornings on weekends or evening after school.

In college I found I worked best with work, study and classes by taking two 4 hour naps a day, 2-6am and 5-9pm. I hope to get a second job to return to those hours.

Regardless, I sleep with the room a bit cool, with a fan on and a 15 watt 3 piece speaker system cranking out hair bands from my sirius radio listening to hair nation.

Im on rotating day/night shift's. Basicly its 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off and so on. Every other set of shifts is night's (19:00-07:00) If you can keep your schedule during your off days, that would be good. I cant really do that due to the rotation. You should be able to get used to it as long as you make some changes with your daily routine. Im usually up for 30 hours on my first shift back on nights. Sometimes you need to force yourself to eat even though your not hungry.

Oh God, I miss second shift. Did it for years. The best sleep I ever got was when I worked second shift because I didn't have an alarm to wake me. Rainy days I'd sleep till noon and it felt oh so good. I did some massive exercising at times too because I'd have a few hour period of peak energy before work. I was really into bicycling in my 20s and I would sometimes do a 40 mile ride before work. Fortunately my job itself was more mental then physical so I wouldn't be too wiped come work time. Anyhow now that I'm back on days, I never sleep enough during the week and have to kick myself in the butt after work to do any exercise at all

Third shift might be a different story. At least with second you go to bed while it's still dark. I would probably have to do what other's have suggested and make the room as dark as possible and mask out noise anyway I could. But this is a flashlight forum, what about light therapy? I have read that light box therapy helps people adjust quicker to shift changes.

idleprocess said:

I don't have experience working graveyard (3rd shift / overnight), but I have been working swing shift (2nd shift / night) for about 18 months now.

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I'd work delivering pizza till 2 or 3 in the AM, in the Madison, Wisconsin, worst-in-sixty-years winter..4 AM would find me asleep in the giant, tepid, eagle-clawed communal bathtub , till 6AM and the first early risers (female) in the house would saunter into the bathroom and we'd all have a big surprise..

no help I know, but you reminded me -- it was tough then, but now it's become a fond memory..

What kind of light is used in light therapy? Does anyone from CPF knows the answer ?

Currently I work three nights, Fri - Sun, 1930 - 0750
And I F**ing hate it.
2nd shift is great like above posted said. but these 12 hr shifts suck.
But I need to money and the differentials make it worthwhile, although I am about done with it all money or not.
Would probably have been easier when younger but I feel I'm too old for it now.

Spent 9 years as a full time musician and it was fun living off hours then, but of course it was different circumstances, and, well, you usually weren't "alone" when you went to bed.

Alot of it comes down to your lifestyle at the time you're working the shifts, right now I'm at a point where it doesn't fit what I'd like to be doing and I feel like I'm a slave to the job and sleep. Plus missing out on family time and activities which usually always get scheduled for weekends.