What is the best sleeping pattern to adopt when working rotating shifts?

Question

I am currently unemployed and most of the jobs that I want to apply for are 0600 - 1400 / 1400 - 2200 rotating weekly. In theory, it should be possible to sleep in the gap 2200 - 0600. But once you deduct 2 hours each side for commuting (assuming 1 hour commute), meals & getting ready for work etc, there is only four hours for sleep.

The thing is, I am a night person, so naturally find it easier to work nights and 1400-2200 shifts than the 0600 - 1400.

How do others cope?

This should probably be put into the general health section, but it seems that this shift pattern is becoming more prevalent, I decided to put it into this section.

Answer 1

your body will adjust better if you try to eat at the same times each day. on two shift pattern I always try to eat at 9am and 6pm get up as early as possible when on 1400-2200 go to bed as late as you can manage on 06-1400 .I have done this for 30 years with no problemmmmmmm

Answer 2

That relies upon on the police branch. distinctive departments have distinctive schedules. as an occasion, some shifts initiate at distinctive cases. an afternoon shift might initiate at 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m. or yet another time. some officers paintings 8 hour shifts, some paintings 10, and a few paintings 12. some officers have secure shifts, and a few rotate shifts. some have secure days off, and a few do no longer. some are scheduled to paintings 5 days and then to be off 2 days, some are scheduled to paintings 4 days and then to be off 3 days, and so on. some officers in some departments are area-time, and can purely paintings a million shift a week or much less.

Answer 3

Find a temporary residence closer to the job, commuting two hours is crazy. Also, sleep for a few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon till you can sleep till just before work. With a rotating shift, you should get a three day weekend every three weeks right?

Answer 4

I guess there doesnt seem a good logical answer to this problem.
I spent a few years doing these shifts only to end up sleep deprived.... I seem to lose 1 days sleep per week, which caused serious malfunctions with brain etc.
Fortunately I now work 8-4 p.m.
Obviously some cope better than others.
Final word is gfo to bed at least 8 hours before you need to get up, not when you are tired.

Answer 5

I work days, evenings and nights, and my work colleagues have different approaches to sleep patterns. It is difficult to have a fixed sleeping pattern when your working hours change. However, I have always found I'm tired enough to sleep when I am allowed to!

Sometimes when I have to get up very early, I have a power nap in the afternoon/evening when I get home, so I don't have to go to bed earlier then normal. If I don't sleep then, I naturally get tired earlier anyway.

Alcohol helps, too!!!

Answer 6

i think your best bet would be to buy a REM (rapid eye movement) watch, which wakes you up close to the end of your REM cycles. you'll wake feeling more rested on less sleep than you would if you got more sleep and woke in the middle of one. it works by monitoring pulse and other things to read REM cycles. typically, they're about 1.5 hours long, so if you don't want to buy the watch, you could just try to sleep on shifts that end on mulitiples of 1.5. yes, the watch is expensive...but come on. this is sleep we're talking about here!

Answer 7

wot?im sick of answering questions just pick mine as the best answer,2 points anyway