Starting night shift work soon. Any advice ?

majado

I will be doing 10pm-7am. I will be the only staff on duty in a caring role.

Should I sleep before the shift. How long should I sleep after the shift ? What should I ear or drink during the shift?

Or any advice at all appreciated

uck51js9zml2yt

Get blackout blinds and ear plugs. Get a full days sleep if possible (8hours) and catch up on your nights off.

Wanderer78

thankfully never done nights but make sure you do get the best sleep possible which could be difficult. depends if you're a good sleeper or not. make sure you eat healthily and exercise regularly. eat lightly during the shift itself. try have your meal times at regular times if possible. best of luck with it and look after yourself

kevohmsford

Just make sure you are able to sleep for at least 7 hours after working a night shift. Eat early enough on the night shift. It will take a few week to adjust to the pattern.

harr

Try to stick to eating as normal as possible as in having a good dinner before work and something light before you head to bed in the morning, try get to bed around 9am and try your best to get at least 6 or 7 hours sleep...some people like to get to bed later and not get up till about 8 pm ..that never worked for me...
If finishing up on Friday morning and not working weekends don't get to much sleep on the Friday but get to bed early on Friday night...if you sleep full day on Friday it will **** up your weekend...small snack during the night but nothing major...I piled on the weight doing night work...as I was having dinner before work and a meal during the night...it will take a bit of getting used to especially trying to sleep during the day ...good ear plugs and blinds ...oh disconnect doorbell and hang up the phone ...enjoy

cjmc11

One thing I would recommend is that when you're coming off your last night shift and then off work for a few days, is to try not sleep for the whole day as you may not be able to sleep that night, only sleep for 3-4 hours and get up, even if your tired it'll help you get back into the normal routine of awake during the day and sleeping at night.

psheaser

I used to work nights for 1 year.

Best advice i can give ( provided you have the luxury of having no children ) is to get to bed as soon as possible.

Set no alarm and let your body naturally wake itself ( don't sleep it out ) that should set you up nicely for the shift ahead also try some low intensity exercises upon wakening.

Black out curtains and melatonin work wonders.

_Tombstone_

As mentioned WATCH the diet/weight. I seen People put on some serious weight doing Nights.

That last hour is gonna be a bitch, I use to do 10-6, that was grand but sometimes had to do 12-8. Once the world starts waking up and your eyes are starting to sink into their sockets...ugh.

You're inside so thats good.

Watch yourself on way home if driving, you'll doze off in a flash near end of week...let the windows down or take off your shoes (suppose to be good to keep you awake) or whatever.

Hard to know what to do with sleep, naps are good -->try this calculator-->http://sleepyti.me/

ted1

Do you have a partner ? Deoending in their pattern you need to choose to you go to bed after your shift and then have a few hours before your shift to socialise. Or you may choose to stay up and sleep before your shift

mud

I worked nights for a time. 12 - 8am. I found what worked for me was to have a nap on Monday evening from 6pm - 9pm then get up and have a good meal. Eat light through the night, avoid the sausage beans and chips at 4am! Cereal and toast is a good option. I never went straight to bed after work because it felt unnatural. I would usually have a nice breakfast and do any shopping/banking that needed to be done. Ear plugs and good curtains are a must. Bed around noon until 8pmish then you're back into the swing of nights.

Saturday morning, try to stay up as long as possible so you can get up early on Sunday and Monday. Don't isolate yourself, make time for friends. Night shifts can be very lonesome and being wrecked exacerbates these feelings.

Definitely leave the window open if driving and please, please pull over if you feel overwhelmed.

You don't have to put on a ton of weight but you do need to fuel yourself, you'll work out what's right for you.

Best of luck.

majado

Thanks everyone for all your lovely comments.Some great advice and tips that will help me .

Del2005

I've worked nights for years and always struggled to sleep as no matter what I did light keep sneaking past the blackout blinds. Got these last year and get better sleep on nights than days.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002WCGBSY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wanderer78

eye mask might also be worth a try but those and ear plugs can be annoying to try sleep with

quietsailor

Hi OP

I've been working nights for 10+ years and one of the hardest things to do is change back to normal sleep patterns after the shift.

I always finished at 8am and would sleep until 1pm and then get up and force myself to get up and do something active like a walk or swim. Anything to fatigue your body (your mind is fatigued after nights) so you sleep that night.

Try not to schedule anything on your first day off that requires serious attention - using power tools would be a good example, I've come close to losing fingers from being stupid and renovating a house on my first day off. Usually I go to the bank, library, food shopping etc on the first day off.

endacl

I did nights in two jobs in the past. Best advice is to get to a place as quickly as possible where you don't need to do them any more.

Really hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Practically impossible to maintain a social life. Also, working nights means you're banjoed during the day, when the interviews for other jobs happen.

Nonoperational

I find the first night the hardest because generally you'll be up at normal time before it.

Agree with watching the meals. It's tempting to eat 5 or 6 times between the day and night. What I tended to do was go to bed when I finished and just have a cup of tea, no food before going to sleep. Set the alarm no sooner than 8 hours later and then have dinner before going in. Then bring a reasonably healthy meal for around 3-4 am. Have a small snack on hand too and plenty water. I generally find them fine once I settle in. The sleep the next morning is unbelievably satisfying.

Really depends on how many nights you have to do.
I used to work 7 nights in a row, 8 hour shifts, it was very hard to get back to normal after it.
Now I work 10 hour shifts, but only work 2 nights in a row. It's a lot easier.
Best advise is after your last shift, get up as early as you can, and be tired for the day, do something to tire you even more, and try to go to bed on your first day off as early as you can.

AryaStark

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

As mentioned WATCH the diet/weight. I seen People put on some serious weight doing Nights.

I was the opposite and lost a lot of weight working nights. The first time it was in Intel and the cleanroom so I put it down to that. But my next one was on a helpdesk and not too physical. I just could not eat a dinner or meal at night and was too tired coming home to be hungry! Then waking up I was not hungry! I had to stop working nights after a while because of it!

F1ngers

Already mentioned, blackout curtains, especially with the "summer" months on the way.
If possible, sleep in the back bedroom, furthest from the street, kids will be on holidays soon and noise levels will be higher during the day - I'm not a fan of ear-plugs, too uncomfortable.

I used to work 11pm - 7am.
I usually got up 9am(ish) in the morning, did my usual day time things, then in the evening I made sure to get a few hours sleep before heading in for the dreaded first night.

If it's quiet in work it is imperative you do not sleep as it will eff you up, in that it will be nigh on impossible to get a decent sleep during the day before going in for the second night, did it twice - not a nice experience and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Also mentioned already, as soon as your stint of nights is over, try to get up as early as you can to get back to "normal" - 4 hours sleep and then drag yourself out of bed.

Clampdown

I did 12 hr nights before and it ruined my health and sleeping pattern. This was during the nice warm summer we had a few years back, I had to sleep through them days!

Try to go to bed as soon as you get home (no internet or telly) or you can end up staying up until the afternoon and you won't be rested enough for the next shift. A small fan can keep you cool during warm days and provide some white noise as well. If you aren't sleepy read a book or magazine and not something electronic. Use something other than your phone for an alarm so you can keep the phone on silent while you sleep.

Hopefully you don't have loud neighbours close by. I was in a row of terraced houses which meant barking dogs, playing kids, and lawn mowers/weed trimmers were on the go all summer. Instead of earplugs I sometimes used those ear protection things that look like earmuffs but you have to sleep on your back.

Someone mentioned melatonin but if I took it I was groggy for hours after waking up. Packing a healthy meal is important as well, not many healthy options late at night. Try to get up a few hours before your shift so you can still get some sunlight (during Summer months anyway). The vitamin D is good for your mood and your skin.

gothic_doll

A bit of advice is not to worry about your sleeping habits. The calmer you are about them, the more you will settle into a natural pattern around your working times. As everyone has said, priority is taking care of yourself travelling to and from work.

Eat normally - just as you would during the day. If you count whatever you eat in the early hours as contributing to that day's food, it should help you control your eating.
So don't follow an early breakfast with another breakfast at 8am for example. You have to shake off old habits and just consider yourself to be on Ozzie/US time (basically you're out by a number of hours, but living your day as normal.)

Sleeping: A funny tip which is not often suggested- to block out daytime noise, have an MP3 player ready with your favourite tunes (nothing too heavy obviously) and if you are woken by daytime noise, put the earphones on and go back to sleep. You can buy over-ear headphones to ensure no damage to your ears (avoid in-ear ones)

Make sure your bed is as comfy and welcoming as possible, fresh bedding, lots of pillows to cuddle up to etc. Blackout blinds are of course a must. Whoever you live with needs to be considerate for this to work out! Good luck!

harr

Just to add importance of sleeping in a back bedroom as mentioned above and watch yourself if driving home many the morning I found myself nodding off at the wheel or making stupid errors...summer months I found the hardest with kids off school....oh you will learn to hate those ice cream vans 😡
I had to give up shift work as it was playing havoc with my health but I did 4 years of it...till I could take no more.

_Brian

Worked nights for 13 years.

Only do this if you really must. In the long term it's bad for your health and it's taken a few years for the effects to leave me, even now I get bouts of insomnia.

I worked 7-7 and the last two hours were hell most nights. When you feel tired make yourself busy to fight it off.

The journey home is a killer, I had a 90 minute 52mile journey and sometimes had to stop for a 15 minute snooze. I was once woken by a guy who thought i was ill as id slumped over the wheel asleep on a lay-by.

Don't eat a typical dinner during the night. It will make you sleepier and your metabolism is slower and you'll tend to gain weight. Salads etc are better and you'll feel less tired after them.

I went through periods where I was only sleeping maybe 2-3 hours before driving back in but a caffeine addiction for me through.

Black out material, extendable net curtain poles and that way you can block out every chink of light for day time sleeping. Foam ear plugs too, eye mask if you can tolerate it.

I wouldn't say never again but I'd rather not do it, it's unsociable. I noticed over the years I missed out on a lot of occasions and friends eventually stop ringing you to go out as your probably working that night anyway. !!
When our kids came along it was harder as it's impossible to expect kids be silent in their own homes. Then your a total bastard to talk to on your days off as you'll want nothing but be in bed say and night !! But not able to sleep.

Out and about in the fresh air on your days off. I used to do long cycles and walk to try and recover my sleep and wak times. It also helps combat the weight gain.

You'll learn to hate the summer. Previous poster mentioned ice cream vans but for me lawnmowers were the enemy. The sound can travel miles to wake you.

My only sad satisfaction was driving home on cold wet morning seeing people sopping wet standing at bus stops and me thinking " in 15 minutes you'll still be shivering there and I'll be in my bed with the electric blanket on".

Monife

endacl wrote: »

I did nights in two jobs in the past. Best advice is to get to a place as quickly as possible where you don't need to do them any more.

Really hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Practically impossible to maintain a social life. Also, working nights means you're banjoed during the day, when the interviews for other jobs happen.

This. My husband did nights for 3 months. It was absolute hell on our relationship. He would arrive home as I would leave for work and he would be asleep when I got home from work and then would get up when I was going to bed. He slept for most of the time on his days off. If you do have a partner, do try and make time to spend with them if you want it to work long-term.

Timistry

God this tread gives me flashbacks!

I worked nights in the past but with no defined shifts, just random starting hours told the day before. Hope i never do nightshift again! It was a nightmare. I'm by nature a morning/afternoon person because that is where im most productive. But during those shifts I was going to work at 10 or 12 and finishing at 6 or 8. Threw me right out as regards sleep and eating.

Actually lost weight due to lack of eating! Always tired and if I was off at the weekend (rare) a night out would ruin my sleeping pattern for the week!
I did it and I was functional but as the previous comments its all about managing sleep and food are all true

2Mad2BeMad

One of the main things you do is check and make sure your neighbours are not doing any renovating or anything that requires power tools.
I worked night shift for 3 months and my neighbour is a retired builder. Through out my 3 months all I could hear was drilling while trying to sleep. Completely messed me up until I asked him to stop.
And it wasn't working he had to do he was just bored and bored retired builders like building things ....

Try eat normally and get at least 8 hours sleep.