Night shifts, how do you cope?

How I do nights:

The day before I will lie in till about 12 and get on with my day. That night I will do a all nighter. Play aload of online games go shopping in Tesco's 24/6. THen go to sleep about 6am.

That day i will wake up at about 4pm watch tv in bed till 5pm or go to sleep. 6pm wake up be at work for 7pm.

During the 12 hr shift Ill treat it as a normal day shift but not as busy. During this time I would eat 2 meals 1 cooked and 1 cold. I will get home in the morning and waiste no time to go to bed.

My tips are:
*Once you have found something that works stick to the routine dont move away from it
*Dont skip meals, i used to eat meals in shift.
*Dont eat a big meal before you go to bed.
*Buy some ear plugs, blackout blinds or something to cover your eyes.
*Towards the end of a shift dont drink lots of coffee.

When going back to days try to sleep half the day and wake up and greet the world. Then go to sleep early that night. If you get this wrong it will ruin your sleep pattern for days and confuse your body. I once got it wrong and for 5 days got 4 hours sleep till i finally snapped out of it.
 
I done nights for 3 weeks once just for cover. I know 3 weeks isnt enough to fully adapt but omg it completly messed me up. I just couldnt get my head around switching back to normal at weekends. Anyway heres what i done for those 3 weeks, 4 10hr days mon-thur. i didnt want to leave at 6am so i changed the hours slightly, i was doing 6-3 if i remember. As soon as i got in i would have a shower and go straight to bed. Get up about 10-11, do whatever for a couple of hours, games, music ect. I would then have a proper dinner about 3-4ish. Chill for the rest then leave for work. I would have a couple of snacks at work for food. I was starving by the time it got to midnight. On the Mondays i would get up normal time and would be shattered by the time i got home. Fridays were a killer as i didnt know what time to get up. I dont think my routine worked very well tbh :D. I dont think i could ever do nights full time.
 
Justin said:
Coffee, food and keep yourself busy!
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Every doctor I've been to has told me to make sure you keep you eating habits the same as dayshift if you want to acclimatise easily coming on and off shifts.

If you eat an evening meal at 7pm do the same when you are on nights and have breakfast when you get in etc etc.

When I'm on nights I eat my dinner as soon as I get to work and work through on small snacks, usually haribo and chocolate :D

Lots of my collegues will eat a curry at 3-4 in the morning. If I did that I wouldn't sleep much at all.

Personally I hate nights. For my line of work it's a neccesary evil. I get 33 days holiday a year and just about everyone of those I will use on a rostered nightshift. Go in for my 2 days and then take the nights off.

After a 12 hour nightshift I'm lucky to sleep for 4 hours before the next 12 hour nightshift. I then get about 3 hours on my first day off.

Mines 2 days 2 nights 4 off.
 
Sp00n said:
Used to do night shifts and had to give up, lost contact with a lot of my friends, body clock was messed up and I just felt lonely as I was out of sync with everybody else and just doing work. sleep. work. sleep. work. sleep. was not fun.

Extra money wasn't worth it imo.
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ditto. it's not natural to work those hours, i'll never do them again.
 
Been doing nights for 10 years or so now. You do kind of loose out on a social life to some degree but it suits my needs. I have never been get up in the morning kinda person :)
 
dannyjo22 said:
Every doctor I've been to has told me to make sure you keep you eating habits the same as dayshift if you want to acclimatise easily coming on and off shifts.

If you eat an evening meal at 7pm do the same when you are on nights and have breakfast when you get in etc etc.

When I'm on nights I eat my dinner as soon as I get to work and work through on small snacks, usually haribo and chocolate :D

Lots of my collegues will eat a curry at 3-4 in the morning. If I did that I wouldn't sleep much at all.

Personally I hate nights. For my line of work it's a neccesary evil. I get 33 days holiday a year and just about everyone of those I will use on a rostered nightshift. Go in for my 2 days and then take the nights off.

After a 12 hour nightshift I'm lucky to sleep for 4 hours before the next 12 hour nightshift. I then get about 3 hours on my first day off.

Mines 2 days 2 nights 4 off.
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Yep, I try to keep my eating patterns as normal as possible. Dinner before beginning a night shift at 7pm and breakfast at home after finishing at 7am with snacks in between that (usually a sandwich and fruit).

I do find it difficult to sleep during the day but blackout curtains have really helped. (also do 2 days 2 nights 4 off)
 
I've managed ok on night shifts, at the place I was working it paid roughly 30% over what the day staff earned. When coming back from the last night of a week of night shifts I'd stay up for the rest of the day, I'd be so knackered that night that I'd be asleep in five minutes. Then, just wake up the next morning and slot into a normal daily routine.

Thinking of going back to night shifts at the moment. I've never, ever been able to get a normal sleep cycle going and it really suited me. Its great when you're on your way home to a comfy bed whilst everyone else is off to work :).
 
Justin said:
I do find it difficult to sleep during the day but blackout curtains have really helped. (also do 2 days 2 nights 4 off)
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How do they get around around appretices being on days nights? When I was one it wasn't allowed for them to do it? I think I started younger than you have though?

Can't remember are you Gatwick or Heathrow?
 
I'm not an apprentice and we don't have any apprentices, so I'm not sure. I went the part 147 basic training to employment route.
 
For me i just do everything in reverse.

Wake up.. dinner, lunch at work, breakfast when i get home.. Off to bed
Use my free time before work instead of staying up any later into the morning.

Summer is the hardest part of the year by a mile though.. The light makes sleeping harder and the heat makes it even more difficult to sleep, not to mention if i open my window the wind starts rattling the blind.. 4 more hours until work for me today...
 
I haven't worked nights for a long time but I did so for a few years. My main advice would be to have a bowl of cereal before you go to bed in the morning. If I didn't, I would wake up hungry about 11 and it's hard to get back to sleep once you're awake at that time of day.
 
im a shift worker (intensive care nurse) just finished 2 nights this morning. I completely reverse my diet...never have any bloating/constipation issues that some complain of....ive been doing nights and days in the same week for over 10 years now. Its quite funny watching the new staff get used to nights, it takes a while. I never have a sleep on my break as it is too long and you will fall into full REM sleep, feeling shattered if you wake with out completing the cycle. try to avoid caffeine, sounds daft but dont rely on it..red bull and pro plus just make you feel so much worse in the end..try natural stimulants in your food, zingy salads or chile infused foods..make sure you have a plan for your shift and try not to make all the important decisions at the latter stages of the shift..ive learnt that the hard way lol.



rotters
 
I work 3 nights, Thurs, Fri & Saturday nights. 10PM till 7AM.

I really can't stand feeling like I have wasted most of the day sleeping so I usually try and wake up around 1:30 on Friday, then on Saturday I try and sleep a little longer till around 3 - 4 so then on Sunday I can stay up all day and not waste my Sunday. Today I woke up at half 11, but usually I wake up around 1 ready for work tonight.


Food wise I just eat like normal, always have breakfast when I get in from work in the morning. Been swimming / running when I get in as well.

It goes a lot faster than working in the day, but I really don't like wasting my days sleeping.
 
first night I generally don.t. After that it's pretty easy. Not to bad on first night if you can get 3hours in the afternoon, but that doesn't happen very often.

It's good in some aspects, shops are empty, at home for parcels. time to r. Messes social life up though. your st home and everyone is at work, unless you know other night shift workers.

As for meals I eat far less on nights, when wake up have breakfast, dinner before going to work and that's it. Far to tiered to eat when I get home. Unless I stop at tesco on the way to work, then it's a bag full of munchies.
 
I totally forgot about this thread! Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll definitely try to keep my meals at their proper times (i..e dinner in the evening).

So most people try to have their free time before work, rather than after? I do like the idea of coming home from work, having a bowl of cereal and crashing into bed straight away.
 
Scam said:
I totally forgot about this thread! Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll definitely try to keep my meals at their proper times (i..e dinner in the evening).

So most people try to have their free time before work, rather than after? I do like the idea of coming home from work, having a bowl of cereal and crashing into bed straight away.
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So have you actually started? If so how is it going.

I do a mixture of days and nights but I love it as I am married with kids but love online gaming. So the night before I do a nightshift I get to stay up all night and play games like a big kid and I dont get in trouble with the misses :p
 
I work 8-8 for 7 days straight 4 weeks of the year (with a week off after) usually on 1st day I will do my best to get a sleep in the afternoon and by the end of the week my body is quite happy to sleep 9-5. When the week is over I try to get up at 2 in the afternoon to try and get back into decent sleeping habit as quickly as possible. And my meal pattern would stay the sameish. Tea around 8:30, snack about 2am and breakfast at 6 or 7am. And no caffeine after 4am
 
I used to work nightshifts during the Christmas periods. My tips:

Stay up till 6am or so, the night before you start to get used to it.

Eat small and light - better to keep your normal eating rhythm in place - have breakfast before you go to bed
 
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