Anyone work nights?

[R32pete]

Sorry if this a repost but does anyone else work nights?

Doing 10pm till 6am but i cant get much sleep! I enjoy the shift but getting proper sleepy to the point where my face is in my lunch box at 2am lol Luckily the job is very physical so dont get to laze about much!

Anyone got any tips or rituals they use to catch some 's?

Pete

 

[Ed...]

i have a weird work pattern.

some nights some days. its really hard to keep track and get all the sleep you need.

i was up for 30 hours straight before yesterday as my day jobs and my night job clashed. this happens every 2 - 3 weeks.

 

[Paul]

Used to work nights on a bar - sometimes 6-6 - only thing I could do to help was energy drinks, but its not the right way to do it. Sugars and Carbs in your diet will help you feel more alert for a longer time rather than the instant rush of energy drinks. I would recommend some Lucozade or similar rather than warm drinks i.e. coffee/tea.

One other thing I would say is to avoid any sort of evening routines. Having a big tea/dinner (whatever you want to call it ) in the evening as you normally would, will make you feel tired, try having a normal breakfast and lunch as you would through the day.

 

[Ed...]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ very good advice

 

[jase]

I do nights 9:30-6 but only do 4 night mon-thurs.
Afters 1:30-9 5 days (hate being at work till 9 on fri)
Mornings 6-1:30 (hate having to get up at 5)

When I'm on nights I let Felix go to after school club so I can stay in bed longer instead of having to get up at 2:30 I get up at 5 instead.

 

[Ed...]

how old is ure felix now jase?

 

[jase]

Felix is 9 now matt.

 

[Ed...]

he'll be able to come home on his own soon?

 

[Gouldy]

I work nights from time to time if the job we have has to be done out of hours. I can stay up fine, I never have any problems staying awake.

When you want to go back to working days simply get up at 12 dinner time and by midnight you are tired again. It works a treat.

 

[jase]

he'll be able to come home on his own soon?

When he goes upto senior school he will as it's only 300 yards down the road. Junior school is about 2 miles away, so a bit far for my liking him doing the trip on his own.

 

[dotty]

yep i work nights too

do 3 days 3 nights then 3 off

at least i can use my laptop at work wahoo lol

 

[R32pete]

I work nights from time to time if the job we have has to be done out of hours. I can stay up fine, I never have any problems staying awake.

When you want to go back to working days simply get up at 12 dinner time and by midnight you are tired again. It works a treat.

Time to time is fine as you don't really deplete your energy stocks but its full time for me sun-sat so trying to build routine up, necking the redbull at the mo others at work say it comes with time then ill be able to sleep all day lol!

 

[richie]

If it's just nights then the key is to get into the routine. I've worked nights and it's easy enough after a while.

Day/night splits on the other hand are a total nightmare for me.

 

[Gouldy]

I know it will be hard but try to stay away from energy drinks, you will be trying to get your body used to being nocturnal and energy are keeping up awake instead of your body clock.

Over time it will get better inwould of thought.

When I used to work nights it was normally for a few months at a time. The money kept me going most of the time tbh. We get time and a half for night shifts so working on a Sunday night straight through infill Monday / Tuesday was brilliant.

You could earn upto £400 just for a day. Next time you get tired just of the money and I'm sure you will find motivation matey lol!

 

[Demic]

I work a block of 6 nights and a block of 4 in a 46 week long roster, so they come round every 3-4 months (I last did them in June and my next lot are in a weeks time). It's terrible just doing odd ones like that. The body just can't adapt to it. Coupled with doing disruptive shift patterns (ie today I was up for work at 4:30am on Monday I don't start 'til 3:00pm) it really leaves you feeling wasted!

When I first started on the job a wisened old Railwayman who I came to have a great deal of respect for told me that at best most people just learn to cope with the fatigue rather than try to adapt and live a normal-ish lifestyle. After 3 years on the job I think he's right.

It does help that most nights the work is done for 1:00am and nothing moves again to 4:00am ish so you can get your head down for a few hours and grab some fitful sleep.

On my last night I try to stay up all day and then go to bed early in the evening, sort of a short, sharp shock to jolt the body back to normal. Painful and hard work but it seems to do the trick.