It kicked my ass for the first 5 years, then I got promoted. Just got promoted to sergeant and I'm being shipped off to nights again. Any tips for sleep, keeping healthy, etc.?

You have to dedicate yourself to the night shift schedule. I’ve worked nights exclusively for 14 years now. I have a family with 3 kids but I DO NOT change my schedule on my days off. I just modify it a bit. Trying to be dayshift on your days off is terrible for you.
On my days off I just go to sleep a little and get up earlier. Instead of going to bed between 0700-0800, I crash between 0300 and 0500. I still can help with getting ready for school, help putting them to bed and so on. Just my .02. Congrats on the promotion Sarge!

Been doing nights for the past 26+ years.

I am so used to it day shift would be miserable to me.

Like said above try to keep the same sleep pattern. I usually sleep an extra 1-2 hours later on my days off,and stay up an extra hour on my days off

I’ve been on nights for almost 13 years and I still switch my weekend sleep schedule to days.  Main issue for me is that there is nothing to do at night other than watch tv and eat!  Can’t workout in the garage because it’s too noisy, same with most of my other hobbies.  What do you do at night to occupy your time?

I still have a full afternoon and evening with my family.  I spend some time with the wife and usually lay down with her until she goes to bed.  The rest of the night is mine.  I go run in my neighborhood and for a workout I do some easy stuff around the house like pushups, situps, etc.  I still watch movies and eat too.  Play video games.  When I was studying for a promotional test I spent a lot of time in my home office studying.  I hit up my other night shift mates and do things with them as well.  I clean my duty guns, do some laundry, make my kids lunches and what not so the mornings go smoothly.  There are 24 hour gyms and we have also a pool to do some laps in.  With all that said, you are right.  Its very easy to be lazy and just watch TV and eat.  I'll say it again, you just have to dedicate yourself to the schedule and ensure you don't fall into that rut.  Its all up to you really...

started back on the 6a-6p 12s about three months ago.

I LOVED night shift. This time it's kicking my ass, because now I'm married, and the wife wants to do normal people stuff on the off days. I just want to sleep. Gaining some weight back, too.

Congrats on the promotion, don't forget where you came from!

Thanks fellas!

I think what hurt was sleeping regular person hours on my days off. This time I'll be doing it single and with off duty jobs to keep me awake.

Any recommendations for otc sleep aids?

Benadryl or Melatonin.  I've tried both.  Benadryl worked best for me.

Somatomax. Doesn’t give me the “hangover” foggy feeling that melatonin did. I have The opposite problem of you though. I went To days a couple years ago for my family and it’s killing me slowly

We rotate days/nights every 4 weeks.  When on nights I keep my same schedule on my days off, which helps.

Watch t.v, video games, and go to the PD and work out.  Workouts usually come around 2 or 3 am

Nights never bothered me... I can drink a pot of coffee at 530am when I get off and go home and sleep like a baby. I like nights as all of you know less BS calls, less traffic, no brass giving you or your guys dumb stuff to do.

When I was off, I'd go right back to sleeping at night... granted I went to bed later like 11pm or midnight. On some occasions I'd not fall asleep right away. Guys at work are like "how can you do that" and I'm like "I don't know... I just go to bed".

My routine was go to bed as soon as I got off... wake up about 11am let the dogs out, go back to bed until about 2pm where I'd get up and go do my daily run or go to the agency gym. Finish working out by 3:30-4:00, cool down relax, shower and dress to be ready for work by 5:00/5:15.

I'd eat something healthy and light around 6:30 and eat a good meal around 3am. Rarely did I snack or eat just before getting off work.

Our bedroom was blacked out, A/C usually down a little low, main phone turned off, and a white noise making machine made for a good sleeping environment. When the kids were young and home on weekends, they generally were careful about making excessive noise. When we built our house we added an extra barrier to our outbound bedroom wall to help keep outside noise down. My closest neighbors other than my in-laws are several hundred yards away and they are grown with no kids or barking dogs... that helps.

I have an Admin job now since I got promoted to Lt. and miss the ease of keeping a healthy routine that nights provided.

I did nights for 10 years, most of it was 12 hour shift. I didn't mind although my entire life before and after I get up really early. Made doing errands, yard work and seeing daylight a lot easier than day shift.

Man I couldnt disagree more with that.

When I rotate to nights say I get off Monday morning at 0600, I will stay up all day Monday and sleep at night on Monday and Tuesday nights. Come Wednesday when I go back to work that night I may take a little nap in the afternoon to prep to go back but usually don't. I've tried the whole staying on the night schedule on days off but it's boring to me since there's not much to do at night at home

Otc sleep aids: black-out curtains, a fan, noise machines, and the silent button on your phone.

I'm a supervisor on nights for the past 3 years and stick to sleeping 7am to at least 1pm. I don't do shit nor respond to the administration until after those hours.

My personal favorite: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Relaxing-Soothing-Charging-Auto-Off/dp/B00A2JBMRE/ref=sr_1_6_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1527835857&sr=8-6&keywords=rain+machine