night shift - anyone got coping strategies?

sturisoma

sturisoma

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as part of my job I sometimes have to support the police in one of their tasks. This means I have to work from 11pm Sat to 5am Sun.

I've done it before but no matter which strategy I choose I end up being very tired. Driving home again is a bit hairy (tho I can grab an hour sleep in the car before I set off, it's still nervy for me)

so I've tried:

stay up late Friday, get up early on Saturday, try to get 3 or 4 hours sleep before setting off at 9pm - this is the hardest as I can't sleep during the day

go to bed early Friday, sleep in for as long as I can, try for a 1 hour nap at tea-time - work through the night

nothing seems to help, and I don't really want to waste my saturday and sunday sleeping (which is what I ended up doing last couple of times)

so does anyone know any tips? I think it's worse because it's just the one nightshift in the week and I'm not used to it.

:suspect:
 
Just doing the odd night shift is hard to adjust to. When I used to do nights for 7 nights on the trot, the only way I could cope with them was to turn my whole life upside down and sleep all day and stay up all night. Some people used to cat nap during the day as well as get a couple of hours shut eye at night. Never worked that way for me - I used to love doing nights, getting into a lovely warm bed in the morning (Hubby put the electric blanket on when he got up for work!) always made me smile, I loved it!!
 
I don't think there are any real strategies for nights apart from a prolonged period on shifts.It takes me at least 5 days to adjust to night work and even then i don't sleep as much as "normal"
 
Get enough sleep on saturday, and don't go to bed too early on Friday. If you wake up at 11-ish then it will be OK to stay late. I've done it many times, like writing a report, but yes, you will need to sleep properly on Sunday. What makes you feel really tired is all the boring/repetitive work.
 
thanks for the replies guys, think I just have to grin and bear it. I can't tolerate caffeine either so no chance of using coffee :(

Daugirdas has it spot on, I won't have anything to do except sit around. If I was actually doing something I'd probably be a lot more wakeful.
 
I regularly work irregular nights if that makes sense! Aim to have a nap just before you have to go to work so it's like you're getting up for a normal day at work.

Then for the Saturday have all your chores planned and get out of bed as soon as you wake up and do them all day. Staying busy will keep you awake, then go to bed at a normal time on Saturday night. Works for me!
 
Not sure how the guys at work cope, production blokes work 2 days followed by 2 nights. Do get 4 days to catch up on the sleep after. When I get in around 5:10 there is usually 1 or 2 that are struggling and half asleep in the canteen.

I did nights once (full time not odd shifts) and tbh the worse thing I ever did. I now struggle to sleep day or night. I was a real heavy sleeper before them.
 
Short bursts of night shifts like that are a wotsit. I would just try to get some sleep during the day in between and take it easy on the Friday/Saturday. The short length doesn't allow you to 'flip' your day which is the best way to cope. Even then on my weeks of nights driving home would be a hairy experience on the 6th and 7th night!
 
I do 5 nights in a row every third week. Stay up as late as possible on the Sunday night and have a good lie in on Monday morning.

It's coming off nights that does me in.
 
I used to have to do this many years ago. I used to have a lay in on day 1 (Saturday in your case) go to work. When I got home, I'd shower and eat and go somewhere to get out and about. I would then just go to bed early day 2 (Sunday). Maybe missing a night's sleep is not perfect, but it worked for me, just used to yawn a lot :).
 
mmm some good tips there. Not able to tolerate caffeine Mike :(

in my youth I could go to all night parties without a problem lol
 
glow sticks? lol my partying days were way before that...
 
I have spent 4 years on night shifts. I went through all the sleeping patterns, energy drinks, Pro Plus pills...

The only way to cope with night shift is to sleep enough time before it and stay active during the night.
 
Can't stand coffee then coke or pepsi has caffine in it, about 2 or 3 in the morning I had to have a mars bar or two as low blood sugar level used to hit me.
But as said,one night a week is to short to get into a pattern.:(
 
I've been thinking about it and at the end of the day I don't think I could do a nightshift job.

:coat:
 
I've done nights for the last 11 years and I can't cope with the odd day shift now...

I always stay up as late as possible the night before, and stay in bed as long as possible. I feel rotten if I sleep during the day so I view it as a 24 hour window, if I'm driving and expect to be home at 8 am (for example), then I want to have had some sleep in the previous 24 hrs, preferably 3 or 4 hours to be comfortable, so I try not to stir before 11 or 12.

Hope that makes sense.
 
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