Posted: 4/2/2008 4:59:06 PM EDT
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I may be starting a third shift job soon. I've worked third shift a few times to help out, but never on a regular basis. I know that by morning I'm beat, and it's not from the work, it's from the fact that I'm drop dead tired. My question is, how do you guys do it? Do you get used to it? Do you sleep from, say, 8 am to 4 pm and have the rest of the night to do what you need til you go to work? As far as days off, do you try to keep a close work schedule so you don't get your sleep time thrown off? I'm concerned that I'll accept a third shift job and never get used to it. Thanks for any input. |
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I work 1700 to 0500. you get used to it. on work days I get up at 1330 , hit the gym, shower eat and Im out the door. After the first week or two it will be fine. I forgot to add youll be able to out drink all of your buddies on your off days cause you are used to staying up! 
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Your bodies natural time to sleep is several hours after getting home from work. When i work mid shift i usually stay up till about 1pm. Then lay down for a solid 8 hours of sleep. I put foil over the bed room window so there is very little light in my bedroom. Maybe spend a hour or so before i lay down in the darker bedroom so that it tricks my body into thinking its dusk. On the weekends it isnt a problem to stay up a few more hours with the family. |
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I worked third shift seven days a week no vacations for three years. You do get used to it (how long it will take varies widely), and truthfully I like third shift better, but downsides are that it's obviously a lot harder to get stuff done during normal business hours and still get some sleep in, and even once you've adjusted your sleep pattern you may find that the shift causes mood changes and physical effects (when I first started third shift I'm gonna have to say my digestive tract did not like me at all, no idea why other than the shock of a whole new pattern) Edited to add: I agree with the poster above me too, it's a lot easier if you structure your sleep schedule to give you time to unwind before sleep |
| I worked 1800 to 0600 for several years. Alternating days 2 on 2 off 3 on etc etc. You get used to the hours but with a family it is hard. On your days off you want to do things with the kids but then you have to get back to the nights the following day. Some of the guys I worked with it came naturally to and others couldn't do it and quit after a couple weeks. YMMV good luck! |
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I'm currently working one for the first time in my life, and it's been tough. The best advice I can offer was given to me by one of the guys I'm working with, who was a California Highway Patrolman for thirteen years, all spent on graveyard shifts. First he said to make sure your wife and family respect your sleep schedule. His wife appaerntly had a habit of waking him up late mornings to go and shop or do other tasks, with the kids always being loud when he was trying to sleep. He repeatedly tried to make them see that they were essentially waking him up in the middle of his "night." It all fell on deaf ears until one night he decided to put an end to it. He woke her up at 2:30am and told her to get up and go out to eat with him. She was pretty pissed off, as were the kids, who were treated to their Dad banging pots and pans in their bedrooms. The problem was resolved that night.  I'm doing okay so far, but it's taking a while to adjust. I'm looking at it as a temporary situation, so I'll just have to gut it out. Good luck. |
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Used to work 1900-0500. I would stay up until 0900 or 1000. I got used to it and first week was caffeine filled. I was up after a morning nap on days off, like went to sleep at 0600 and up at 0800 or 0900, since I was single dad and raising my daughter(4-7 at that time). Just tell ourself you will be fine and eat healthy, this really helps with energy. 
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+1 Twenty years and change ago, when I was an undergrad, I worked 2300-0700 and then went to college from 0800-1200 fours days a week, then slept in the evenings. Not very conducive to a social life, but (thankfully) I was already dating my now-wife at the time and she was in law school and needed the study time -- we pretty much saw each other in passing and on my off-weekends only.  Twenty years later/older, I don't think I could do it even if I wanted to... |
Haha, that's the truth. I worked at beer distributor where the hours changed every night. We would always start at 6pm, but we never knew when we'd be done. Sometimes as early as 2am, other times it was 8am. My body learned quickly that "bedtime" is whenever I can fall asleep and "morning" is 6 to 8 hours after I go to bed. Time of day ceased to matter. It was a fun job and the perks were great (dirt cheap beer), but the hours eventually wore on me. If they had been regular hours and I could get into a decent sleep schedule, it would have been fine. However, I found that after a couple months, I would sleep for three hours, wake up and be ready to go, not be able to sleep for another 24 hours, then false asleep for 10+ hours, etc etc. I guess what I'm saying is, if you can keep some sort of routine, it's fine. If the hours become too irregular, it can mess with your body. |
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1800 to 0600 for a few years, I loved it. Everybody is pissed at the world going to work, you're going home and the sun is coming up. Get home, work in the garden, about 9AM is time to run errands when all are at work and stores are opening. BBQ and drinking in the quiet AM=priceless. Go to bed about noon, have to have the black out drapes though and phone with off switch. |
| I found for me that I would come home at 0500, shower then go right to sleep. I use blackout curtains so room stays dark and a fan running to help negate outside noises. I worked nights for over ten years. It's tough on family but in my previous jobs it was better work conditions. |
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Don't do it! It is hell! I worked it almost two years and never got used to it. I tried every strategy and finally started sleeping from 2 pm until 10 pm. It makes life hard. The only way I got through it was I found a f buddy girl on the same shift and we stuck together. When I got off the midnight shift I weighed 140 lbs. I had almost vanished. Some people liked it though. I will NEVER do it again. |
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