graveyard shifts making me depressed-- know of good techniques to ease it?

Question

moving to different shifts isn't an option for at least 4 to 5 more months.

and i absolutely love my job while i'm there (12 AM to 8 AM), it's the times between about 10 AM and midnight where I can barely drag myself around, and I'm grouchy as hell.

tips for helping my mind and body feel better?

uh, like i said, moving's not an option for a few more months. my particular position (in a residential drug rehab center) doesn't exist in the day time.

Answer 1

Greetings from a fellow 3rd Shifter. :)

I know how you feel. I dealt with that for a while too, But I've worked 3rd's now most of my life. It just takes a bit of acclimation. You have to adjust your lifestyle to fit a normal persons ony you'll be doing it at different hours than they will.

The trick is to convince your body that you're working a normal shift. A regular 9 to 5'ers day might be something like this:

7:00 am - Get up, shower, shave, get dressed, etc.
8:00 am - Ready to go to work, maybe eat breakfast or whatever.
8:30 am - Leaves for work.
9:00 am - Punches the clock and the workday starts.
5:00 pm - Leaves work.
5:30 pm - Arrives home.
6:00 pm - Watches news/tv or works on hobby etc.
7:00 pm - Has dinner.
8:00 pm - Relaxes/reads, watches tv, goes to movies, whatever.
11:00 pm - In bed sleeping until 7:00 am and do it again!

Now adjust that for a 3rd Shifter...

10:00 pm - Get up, shower, shave, get dressed, etc.
11:00 pm - Ready to go to work, maybe eat breakfast or whatever.
11:30 pm - Leaves for work.
12:00 am - Punches the clock and the workday starts.
8:00 am - Leaves work.
8:30 am - Arrives home.
9:00 am - Watches news/tv or works on hobby etc.
11:00 am - Has dinner.
12:00 pm - Relaxes/reads, watches tv, goes to movies, whatever.
2:00 pm - In bed sleeping until 10:00 pm and do it again!

The key here is to have a set schedule. Keep to it as much as possible. It doesn't have to be the one I Illustrated above, just pattern it after your lifestyle when you would work a normal 1st shift job.

The most important thing is your sleep pattern. This seems the be about the hardest thing to keep in line because you're going to sleep when most people are getting ready to come home from work.

A few tips I can offer...

- Adjust the lightiing in your home to compensate for YOUR time of day. If you're just getting up for work then it's your "morning" turn on as much light as possible, make it bright. If light is bothering you when you're sleeping, pull the shades or find other ways to darken the room. Quiet is also essential. Some soft music may also help. (I listen to classical cd's sometimes.)

- Resist the urge to stay up later than you should. This is a hard one.

- Once you have set a comfortable schedule, stick to it. Some people prefer to sleep after they get home as this is usually the best time as the wife is at work and the kids are in school most of this time. I'm one of those people that require only 6 hours of sleep to be fully functional and if I were in bed by 9am, I'd be up by 3 and by then the kids are just getting home from school and the wife would be home shortly after that. But if you're single like me, you have none of that to worry about. :)

- Emphasis on SLEEP. You need to have a set pattern. Sleep dictates your mood for the day. Better sleep = better attitude. Believe me.

Now that I've been working 3rd shifts for the last 20 years or so, I can say that I don't have to worry about sticking to a pattern anymore. My body does it automatically. And you will become this way too after a short time. Most of the time I don't even need to use an alarm clock. I just automatically wake up. My body's clock is set. :)

Hope this helps you. And if you are one of those people who was just not born to work 3rd's, Get out of it as fast as possible. You will be miserable until you do. There are some people out there who just are not capable of doing it. Just like I am incapable of working 1st's. I tried it for a year and my job performance did a nosedive. Suppose it's from being acclimated to 3rd's? hehe

Answer 2

I know what you mean. I've worked graveyard for almost 3 years.
Treat yourself by going out for breakfast when your done your shift. It helps a little.
You'll also need to try to develop some sort of "normal" sleep schedule. I usually sleep for a couple hours in the morning, then I'm up all afternoon, then I sleep in the evening's from about 5pm until 10pm....I have to be at work at 11pm.

Answer 3

i'm a splash at a loss for words concerning the circumstances... you paintings from 12a to 8a yet are drained and torpid between 10a and 12a so for the two hours between once you get off and once you're dragging around... (with a bit of luck you meant 10p no longer 10a)... in case you particularly meant 10a you maximum suitable guess to combat feeling torpid (drained and depressed) may well be to get extra sleep in case you actual meant 10p i got here upon as quickly as I worked nights that obtaining a vivid analyzing lamp and shining this superb on my eyes (at the same time as my eyes have been closed) for 15 minutes formerly getting up for the day (evening) helped a great deal. Many evening shifters experience the comparable symptoms and persons who be afflicted by unhappy (seasonal adjustment sickness) that's led to by employing the help in the quantity of vivid mild a guy or woman is uncovered to during the wintry climate monthes in assessment to the summer season monthes.

Answer 4

set in the sun about an hour a day or under a sun lamp .a friend who has worked 3rd shift for ten years told me about it and it worked

Answer 5

Move to dayshift!!!