What is the best advice you could give to someone starting a midnight shift?

Question

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences with me. Many of you gave great tips...

Answer 1

Graveyard shift is a great job. It builds character!!! To be successful you have to be in control of your life. Been there, done that.

1. Do not use any drugs to stay awake unless you really need it. And then only coffee. Nothing else. Stay away from the over the counter, prescription or illegal stuff.

2. Be prepared to abstain from partying or staying out late. You should be sleeping everyday at Noon-ish. And make sure you get a full 6-8 hours sleep. Don't think you can go partying with your buddies in the evening and then go directly to work. If you do that you will definitely have serious trouble at work.

3. If you have kids or live in a noisy neighborhood find a way to make sure you do not get disturbed during your sleep. Put dark blinds up on the windows.

4. If you are married, make sure that you keep your sex life at home active, otherwise you are going to be divorced or worse, i.e. get some before you head of to work. I'm not joking.

5. Make sure you have "lunch" at work. So at around 4 a.m. have the equivalent of a good lunch and drink a lot of water.

6. Work hard.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Try and sleep for a few hours before your first shift in the afternoon. And try to get an hour before you leave for work. Go to bed as soon as you get home, after a hot bath. Eat your evening meal at your regular time, and take a packed lunch to eat in the middle of your shift.
Buy some ear plugs, some very dark curtains/blind, and a good fan to keep you cool whilst sleeping during the summer.
Caffine drinks, and chewing gum are good to keep you awake while your body gets into a new sleeping pattern.
It will take you about six months to get into it, and there will be times you might end up awake for over 24 hrs when your body clock runs out of line, or you might sleep for 16 hours at a time.
The worst is at the end of the weeks shift, if you sleep all day, you will be up all night, and if you don't have enough you will be asleep by 7pm. So try and get just 2 or 3 hours after your last shift, and make sure you have something to do in the middle of the night on the nights you can't sleep!
Good luck.

Answer 3

I started working a 10PM to 7AM shift 3 weeks ago. I sleep from 9AM until whenever I wake up which in the beginning was between 4 and 8PM. The hours just wiped me out but every day gets a little easier and I am now sleeping from 9AM-3 or 4PM. Give it time, your body will adjust to the change. I know people say to keep the same sleep hours on your days off but what I love about the night shift, I did it years ago is that it is like getting 3 days off every week. I have Monday and Tuesday nights off so when I get out work at 7AM Monday I either don't sleep or I take 2-3 hour nap. I then have the rest of Monday, sleep Monday night have all day Tuesday sleep Tuesday night and have all day Wednesday. I take a nap from 4-8PM on Wednesday before going back in to work Wednesday night.
Good luck with the new job.

Answer 4

You'll need to adjust your sleep schedule if the shift is a regular thing. Try going to bed before noon and waking up around 9 or 10pm to get adjusted (needless to say, close the curtains and tell anyone in the house to keep it down).

The midnight shifts IMO aren't that bad. The supervisors are alot more laid back than day shift, the people you work with generally have a sense of humor about it and you don't have customers bothering you and getting you off track (plus breaks are longer and the work environment is more casual). Depending where you work, machinery can be brought inside the store to help with stocking and such, making things much easier.

Answer 5

That's a tough gig. I did it for around 4 months.

It takes a bit of getting used to. I would stay up, work the shift, and then go home and sleep right after. It's hard because you're body's not used to having your schedule flipped like that.

I tried going to school in the morning after the shift, not thinking a couple hours would make a difference. I lasted about 2 weeks before I quit the classes. I was dead after work and just wanted to sleep. It was never a good rest because it was light out, and the background noises distracted me.

Good luck.

Answer 6

You are lucky not to have all the traffic on your way to and from work. You have to find a way to sleep during the day, which means dealing with light and noise. Maybe get some soft silicon ear plugs and good curtains/blinds.

Answer 7

I love the Grave shift :D i used to do it like 2 years ago,

Dont sleep after work, Do your chores or shopping, cook, exhaust yourself more and more before sleeping and then sleep when you wake up you willl find something to eat and then go to work, you can even watch TV:D

Answer 8

One thing to help you sleep during the day is make your bedroom dark. Keep shades and curtains closed put your phone on answering machine and turned off in your bedroom. Prepare yourself to go to bed just as you did in the evenings before you went to bed at night. I use to try to do all my housework and chores in the afternoon and then found myself tired when I went to work at night. So try not to overdue it before going to work. Good luck it takes getting use to it , but after awhile you will.

Answer 9

i just finished a night shift. what i do. i get myself up early early the first night. so i'm good and tired by 6-7. go to bed and nap till i have to get up. i'm lucky my job is 5 minutes from were i live. so i get up at 12. have everything ready to go before i go to bed. so when i get up i just basically have to leave. get home and sleep till noon. tired or not, get up by that time at the latest. go to bed 7 that night and keep up the same thing till my day off. get up at noon anyways, then that night go to bed around 9 or so. so my schedual is back on track right away.

Answer 10

When you are done work stay up for a cpl hours, then go to bed for 7 hrs - Cristal

Is it at the Oasis? - Cristine

We won't tell!
We're Cristal & Cristine
"sisters in silence"