Nightshift Work- Advice Please

[Robbo `81]

After 25 year or so of being a 9-5 mon - fri type worker in the main, have been offered a job which is constant nightshift, 4 on, 4 off type work - it's the same type of work - telephone, call centre type work - so not physical job.

Just wondering if anyone who does work / has worked nightshift in the past could offer any advice / tips on how best to deal with the hours / shift pattern ?

I've looked on line and most comments seem to be very generic and / or predominantly aimed at Doctors ....looking for folks own experiences please, what works / doesn't work.....

Thanks in advance

[Armchair Bob]

I worked nights offshore - but you are in a bubble there and get your meals and laundry done. Would hate to do it onshore when you are out of synch with everyone else.

I did do backshifts though for a couple of years, which was great. Got loads done during the daytime, could go out cycling, was easy to arrange anything or do any shopping, and I ended up writing a book, which is a lot easier to tackle after you've woken up refreshed, than after you've already done a days work.

[Larky Masher]

I never found any problems with sleeping during the day (though blackout curtains help). Getting a lot of sleep the day I started nightshift helped but getting up around 12 (noon) the day I finished (though I always felt like shite) helped get me back into "normal" time. I also tried doing something after the shift when I was working even if it was just sitting down and watching TV with a beer but if it's 12 hours shifts you're quite restricted.

[wheres the pies]

hated nightshift done it for 9 years put on so much weight was19st at one point now down to 15st eating at all the wrong times now work 6 till 2 shift and fell a lot better health wise

[teecee-]

I worked nights offshore - but you are in a bubble there and get your meals and laundry done. Would hate to do it onshore when you are out of synch with everyone else.

I did do backshifts though for a couple of years, which was great. Got loads done during the daytime, could go out cycling, was easy to arrange anything or do any shopping, and I ended up writing a book, which is a lot easier to tackle after you've woken up refreshed, than after you've already done a days work.

Agree backshifts the best , have done them for decades.

Will be hard doing nightshifts as body clock totally out.

Only saving grace is if it's a call centre you will have "quiet times" to maybe do a

bit of reading.

[Maq]

I work 2night shifts every 10 days, so don't find it too hard. Wouldn't like to do them 'full time' though

Get blackout blinds

Sleep plenty through the day if you can

Your 1st (and maybe 2nd) of your "days off" will likely be a bit of a write-off with tiredness

Oh - and I read an article a few years ago that said permanent night shifts can take years off your life expectancy - enjoy!

[goodguy]

If you can sleep it's a skoosh, If you cant sleep then it can be hellish. Worked constant nights for around 9 yrs and would get wee phases of struggling to stay asleep during the day.

As larky says Stay up as long as possible the night before for a lie in and get up early on last shift.

[Orraloon]

I was in a similar position to you. About 20 years of days then went onto shifts - 4 on 4 off alternate days and nights. Folk told me it's much harder to adjust to shifts of you start when you are older. I have no idea how anybody can possibly know that .

I am a night time person and have never liked mornings so I actually preferred the night shifts. It was tiring but I think that was more due to changing from 5 x 9 hours days to 4 x 12.5 hours shifts. That last few hours of each shift were a bit of a struggle to start with.

Different folk have different ways of dealing with nightshift. You just have to find out what suits you best by trial and error. I would go to bed as soon as I got home and then got up around 1500ish. Watch a bit of TV before heading off to work again. When I was on shift I did nothing but eat sleep and work. It won't be so tiring if you are not doing 12 hours shifts.

Night shift tends to turn you into a snacker though and I would agree with others who mentioned putting on weight. I did shifts for about 3 years and put on about a stone and a half in that time.

And watch your alcohol intake. It's really easy to start guzzling 3 or 4 cans at the end of every night shift using the excuse that "it helps me to get to sleep".

[weekevie04]

I did it for 6 months until June as a temporary thing.

It took some time to get in to it, and if you are a light-sleeper, you may have issues in getting a proper sleep. It didn't help that next door seemed to be renovated his whole house Mon-Fri.

If you drink coffee/coke, stop taking it at least 2-3 hrs before you plan on going to sleep. I stupidly would have a wee coffee with the next shift in the morning and wondered why I was tossing and turning til midday, once I knocked that on the head - it helped me sleep a lot better.

Everyone is different, but I didn't get a sound sleep. I would wake up every 2-3 hrs, and if you live in a bustling area - sounds of the day may interfere. I tried ear plugs which didn't do much difference.

I also noticed I was a lot lazier. I run/cycle quite often and would blame nightshift for not wanting to go out. The turning the sleep back around can be a bitch as well especially if you have a massive sleep the day before a nightshift then 2-3 hrs on your first night back.

There were some benefits. The pay was good, and there is something calming about feeling like the only one in town, but I dunno if I'd fancy it all year round.

All the best,

[1ANDYP]

Done it for 3 years and was constantly knackered. Murder trying to sleep especially in summer. Black out curtains and possibly ear plugs help a bit.wouldn't want to do it again. I suppose doing overtime at weekends day's didn't help me.

[McTeeko]

I've been doing 12 hour shifts for 13 years now. On top of that I live in Edinburgh and work in EK so most days it's a 15 hour shift with the travel.

I don't really find the 12 hours at work a problem, it's more the lack of hours between shifts where you only get about 1-2 hours to yourself after you've slept, shopped, picked wee man up from nursery, ate dinner etc.

But the worst thing for me is driving home after a nightshift and your head is bobbing all over the place and your eyes are shutting. I used to pull into Harthill for a 20 min sleep just to refresh me but now I just nip in for coffee to keep me awake.

It's all pros and cons - the 12 hour shifts mean I get loads of days off (I only work 143 shifts a year) and when I take it all into account I'd rather do my current shift pattern than 5x 9-5.

Edited July 23, 2015 by McTeeko

[dandydunn]

I do it as and when is required.

When I've got plenty to do,I try to stay up as long as possible the night before and sleep as long as I can.

Get home and go straight to bed,tend to get woken up when the kids get home from school and head back out around 7:30pm.

When I'm finished it,I try to stay up right through,get a good sleep and that's me sorted for the weekends.

[killiefaetheferry]

I like it. Been doing 5 nights on, 2 off for 2 years now. It was about a 30% payrise, and I now see more of my 2 wee ones than I did on dayshift. It has got me off the bevvy 5 days a week, but I am having to be careful with eating - now maintaining a good healthy BMI but the midnight breakfast is tempting........am taking my own homemade healthy stuff most nights - lentil soup, chilli, curry etc. If you live with family you need their commitment to your sleeping pattern, as it is easy for 'normal' folk to somehow think you disappear into an 8 hour alternative universe where you sleep, as they expect you to be available/awake/productive during the the day, then wave you off for your shift in their jammies. Don't even start putting up with that shite.

Best advice I had was that if your usual sleep time was 11pm-7am, then you are simply going to flip onto 11am-7pm when on nights. Ultimately you need to go away into your bed for about 9 hours to have an hour to read or post utter nonsense on here etc before sleeping. As others have said, when you go into days off, try to go to bed immediately and aim for 4 hours kip then get up and try for a run/walk to the shops/kids to the park/walk the dog etc, to get into your leisure time. The day you are going back, try to get up early and then aim for 4 hours kip but allow 6 hours in bed as this is the difficult one.

I'm pretty used to it now and could sleep standing up - I think you can train yourself to relax enough to sleep.

Good luck, try a few approaches to see what works. If they will let you, try to take a few short holiday breaks in the first 6 months as you may have a few false starts until you find what works for you.

[killiefaetheferry]

Oh, and isn't it amazing that all of the guys giving advice as nightshift workers on this thread also happen to be the best posters on the whole of the TAMB ?

It's actually refreshing to get away from the riff-raff.

[Grantyboy1983]

The first thing i would consider would be the difference in pay, if it is a substantial wage increase then obviously it is worth considering, if it is only a meagre increase then you would have to say is it really worth changing your working lifestyle after 25 years. Secondly i would consider how it will affect your social life, obviously this depends if your single, married with kids etc because trust me you will miss a lot of parties, family gatherings, nights out to pub with pals etc because you have to work unsociable hours, again that might be acceptable if the money is right and you obviously will get good time off (it is worth considering how much your partner will have to work when you are not working, could be that they have to work when your'e off which might suit if you have kids for example). With regards to nightshift, it depends what hours you are working, is it 12 hour shifts 9pm-9am, or 8 hour shifts 11pm-7am etc?? You will just have to find what level of sleep is right for you, if you need to set your alarm to get up and do something then do that, if you don't need to get up then you could lie as long as you want in theory but as others have already said that can impact on your first 1-2 days off so it will be about finding a balance that is right for you, also have to agree about the snacking but as long as you are still fairly active, ie go to gym or whatever then you won't plle on the weight.

[Orraloon]

Oh, and isn't it amazing that all of the guys giving advice as nightshift workers on this thread also happen to be the best posters on the whole of the TAMB ?

It's actually refreshing to get away from the riff-raff.

See, you don't always "post utter nonsense" on here.

[sbcmfc]

I've done them in a couple of jobs, with mixed results.

When I was a student, could do the Friday night shift and get the Saturday off, sleep until early afternoon and then have football and Saturday night out, where I'd be life and soul of the party at 3am, as id slept most of the day.

Jumped at the chance anytime it was available.

Did it a few years later, and found the 12 hour shifts really hard going, more so than the night shift aspect, but if you can do your hours over less shifts, it's probably a benefit to your family/social life, but if you're going to longer shifts AND night shift in one go, you'll probably find it hard going at 1st,

Best shift pattern I had was 7-3 and 3-11, missed the traffic, and felt I had a lot of free time.

Worst shift was 12-9, didn't really have time to get anything much done beforehand, and lost the evening to.

Nobody has mentioned "night shift arse" yet either. I got terrible wind, probably due to the changes in eating and sleeping, but I was rotten!!!!

[Kirk]

If you can sleep it's a skoosh, If you cant sleep then it can be hellish. Worked constant nights for around 9 yrs and would get wee phases of struggling to stay asleep during the day.

As larky says Stay up as long as possible the night before for a lie in and get up early on last shift.

This saved me typing much.

I do shifts just now which includes a week of nights and h week of earlys. I would do nightshift permanent no problem if it was an option for me. It's quiet at night mostly and I can read or watch shit on my tablet. As long as you can sleep during the day you are good.

Edit to add, try and plan your eating though, as someone else said I put on a fair bit of weight when I started shift work and a lot of that was boredom on nights turning into eating crap for the sake of it.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Kirk

[Charlie Endell]

This saved me typing much.

I do shifts just now which includes a week of nights and h week of earlys. I would do nightshift permanent no problem if it was an option for me. It's quiet at night mostly and I can read or watch shit on my tablet. As long as you can sleep during the day you are good.

Edit to add, try and plan your eating though, as someone else said I put on a fair bit of weight when I started shift work and a lot of that was boredom on nights turning into eating crap for the sake of it.

I do this and I work 9 - 5 - just scoffed 12 Fox's 'Jam 'n Cream'. Edited July 23, 2015 by Charlie Endell

[hunchy]

Before I moved down south a few years ago I worked roughly 9 out of 12 years on nights. Best thing I found ( say Sunday night start till Friday morning) I would sleep late on the sun morning. Up around 11 or 12. Get stuff done or just chill then get my head down around 4 ish for a couple of hours. Then it was up bite to eat and out the door. Always do something when I get home in the mornings sometimes just watch TV sometimes play computer game for a hour or 2 then bed for 11 ish. Come fri morning I would stay up a bit later and then get my head down for a couple of hours so I could get a good sleep at night. Def get blackout curtains and make sure you turn off your phone. The worst is if you have broken sleep when on nights it can really screw you up.

On the point of traveling my last 2 years nights I was working in Dunfermline (at simclar for those from there) and would have to drive back to west Kilbride via ardrossan on the fri morning. Wouldn't have been to bad but it was right in the middle of rush hour the worst part was when we hit the m8 and then it would be nose to tail and crawling

[ParisInAKilt]

I like it sometimes but not sure about night shift every week. Longest I did was 3 months and it was fine because work was a riot during the day and I could avoid doctors and managers.

Are you getting paid more for the nights?

Can you sleep during the day?

I can easily which is most of the battle. I've worked with people who couldn't sleep during the day and a week of nights was a killer for them never mind doing it all the time.

[1ANDYP]

I've been doing 12 hour shifts for 13 years now. On top of that I live in Edinburgh and work in EK so most days it's a 15 hour shift with the travel.

I don't really find the 12 hours at work a problem, it's more the lack of hours between shifts where you only get about 1-2 hours to yourself after you've slept, shopped, picked wee man up from nursery, ate dinner etc.

But the worst thing for me is driving home after a nightshift and your head is bobbing all over the place and your eyes are shutting. I used to pull into Harthill for a 20 min sleep just to refresh me but now I just nip in for coffee to keep me awake.

It's all pros and cons - the 12 hour shifts mean I get loads of days off (I only work 143 shifts a year) and when I take it all into account I'd rather do my current shift pattern than 5x 9-5.

my days are 15 hrs also so it's just work eat shower and bed. Good thing is its only Fri sat and sun. So 4 days off every week. Bit shagged come finish time on a Sunday night. But we'll worth it for the time off. Edited July 23, 2015 by 1ANDYP

[Robbo `81]

Thanks for all the advice folks, really appreciate it.

Just a couple of specific questions if that's okay - I'll be doing an 11 hr shift (With breaks) from 9pm - 8am and I have 60mins travel either way - For exercise I go swimming, the pool I use is literally 2 mins from work and train station - From walking in door , changed, swim, shower, changed back out takes me about 1 hr - am I better going in the morning after my shift or at night directly before..

Also, meals wise when i wake up in late afternoon, am I better eating a "normal" dinner c5pm, then taking rolls etc for eating through the night, or am I better having a light snack at 5pm and taking a bowl of pasta or whatever to have as a main meal / dinner through the night kind of thing ?

Cheers again

[Big Col]

For the last 5 years I've worked a normal dayshift but for the 15 years prior to that I worked shifts. Only after moving off shifts did I realise how much it was screwing me up.

During those 15 years I worked several shift patterns and hours. 8 hours, 10 or 12 hours. Early, back, night, constant and rotational.

The biggest issue with nights was coming off the shift and your days off. I could never get in a routine to sort out my sleeping pattern. The result was I was always tired but would be wide awake at 4am and then falling asleep at 5pm. Then on your first shift back most times I was driving home after being up for 24 hours. Not ideal. Looking back quite a few family do's or nights out I ruined simply because of working nights and being shattered.

I had no issues when I was actually working it was trying to get back to normal on the days off which screwed me up.

As somebody mentioned earlier the demon drink comes more attractive on the nightshift. I fell into the 'just a few beers to help me sleep' trap. You got wierd looks buying beer at 8am.

My record was 28, 12hr dayshifts in a row. I was like a zombie by the end of it. The things you do for money, eh?

[Big Col]

Also, meals wise when i wake up in late afternoon, am I better eating a "normal" dinner c5pm, then taking rolls etc for eating through the night, or am I better having a light snack at 5pm and taking a bowl of pasta or whatever to have as a main meal / dinner through the night kind of thing ?

I could never eat a proper dinner at 5pm after getting up at 4pm. Although many of my colleagues did. I tried to maintain a normal, breakfast, lunch, dinner at 5pm, 9pm and 1am.

That was on a 7pm-7am 12hr nightshift.