working on a night shift

[Yvon]

I've been working on a night shift for about 7 months now.
I sleep pretty well. Ok sometimes I will sleep only 2 or 3 hours but it's only once or twice a week. The rest of the week I usualy sleep between 6 and 9 hours.
Weekends are pretty rough also. I try to live like everybody else. So I can see my friends and I can do other things.
The problems is that I am always very tired, I can't seem to rest even though I sleep relatively well.
I don't feel like doing anything. I touched my bass maybe twice for the last 6 months. I spend my weekends at home trying to sleep etc...

Is there anything I can try to make my situatuion better?
I like my job, I've been there for a while. It pay well. I looked on the net this morning for another job and it would cost me (and my wife, we work together) close to 10$ an hour each.
I can't afford to loose that much money.
I will be able to go on the day shift. I have the signority.
But they don't open those shift very often. So, for the next 6 to 12 months what can I do?

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

[MonetBass]

I used to work the 3rd shift (7p - 7a Sat. & Sun., 12a - 8a Mon. & Tues.) which I enjoyed because it gave me several days off during the week. But I was also single with no kids. SO, I would eat breakfast and go to bed as soon as I got home, and I would sleep for a good 7-8 hours. That would give me the rest of the afternoon & evening (depending on what day it was) to get other things done. Keep in mind this was 10 years ago, so I was younger then. I'm a night owl (or used to be before our kid arrived ) so shifting my sleep schedule wasn't a big deal.

If you stay up for several hours after getting off work before going to be, I would suggest you not do that. For me, that threw my body and quality of sleep totally out of whack.

[RandomEvent]

Originally Posted by MonetBass

I used to work the 3rd shift (7p - 7a Sat. & Sun., 12a - 8a Mon. & Tues.) which I enjoyed because it gave me several days off during the week. But I was also single with no kids. SO, I would eat breakfast and go to bed as soon as I got home, and I would sleep for a good 7-8 hours. That would give me the rest of the afternoon & evening (depending on what day it was) to get other things done. Keep in mind this was 10 years ago, so I was younger then. I'm a night owl (or used to be before our kid arrived ) so shifting my sleep schedule wasn't a big deal.

If you stay up for several hours after getting off work before going to be, I would suggest you not do that. For me, that threw my body and quality of sleep totally out of whack.

I was the same way. I get off work anywhere from 12 to 3 AM everyday. I used to sleep at 8 PM and wake up at 4 PM in time for work. It totally screwed me up. I still do work the same job, but I generally sleep from 3 AM to 11 AM now.

What I did to regulate my sleep schedule was take Melatonin for a few months. My body got accustomed to a new sleep schedule that way.

[Yvon]

Thursday morning I stop taking some medication that I've been taking for 2 months (singulair, a pill for my asthma)
Friday morning I slept from 5 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon.
And friday night I slept from 11 at night until 10 this morning.
I feel much better. The drepression state I was in is gone, I played bass for 3 hours this morning and I feel great.
Gas is back also!

After reading on the net singular might have been the problem.

I don't know if it's a coincidence but I feel great.

I will try to take an appointement with my Dr so he prescribe me something else.

By the way I already take the melatonin. It help a lot.

[Yvon]

and if you are interested, this it what cause me some big gas lately:

[Lalabadie]

Originally Posted by Yvon

Thursday morning I stop taking some medication that I've been taking for 2 months (singulair, a pill for my asthma)
Friday morning I slept from 5 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon.
And friday night I slept from 11 at night until 10 this morning.
I feel much better. The drepression state I was in is gone, I played bass for 3 hours this morning and I feel great.
Gas is back also!

After reading on the net singular might have been the problem.

I don't know if it's a coincidence but I feel great.

I will try to take an appointement with my Dr so he prescribe me something else.

By the way I already take the melatonin. It help a lot.

Lots of meds will do this. I once had a prescription given to me because of some skin disease, where I was required to be confirmed as non-depressive. Several people had already died of suicide after the med aggravated their depression.

Glad to hear you're doing better

[Tsal]

Night shifts are rough on your daily life. The thing that worked for me was limiting my weekend social activities to a few beers max and getting back to home before the midnight to get some sleep.

[Snakeman1066]

I work from 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon till 2:00 a.m. in the morning....with an hour commute both ways.... i usually walk in the door at around 3:00 a.m. brush my teeth, wash my face do a few push ups and sit ups and then off to bed...usually get up somewhere between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. get up eat something catch up on my e-mails etc. talk to the wife for a bit (yeah talk I'll go with that...lol) play a little bass, pack my lunch and then off to work again at 2:00 p.m.....I do this 4 days a week with Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off.....I usally catch up on my sleep on monday while the kids are at school (as i usually don't get much sleep saturday morning kids...Honey do list...and then gig most Saturday nights) then Family stuff on Sunday.....been doing this for about 7 years works for me...

[peterbright]

Hang in there. You can handle it for 6 - 12 months. Some people never really adapt.

[eedre]

I work part time at a radio station - you can imagine the crap hours.

The hours I get are usually on the weekend and almost always have terrible times like 6P - 12A, 12A - 8A. I always get complaints from friends that "You're never available, so I stopped trying." But luckily, I'm still able to keep a conversational relationship with them.

My best advice is the find a job with better hours ASAP, only a select few "mole people" are designed to work those types of hours forever- most everyone is temporary on shifts like that (promotions mean better shifts etc.)

[James Hart]

wow... I'm a 'mole people' huh? You silly day walkers



I've worked 3rd shift for about 3 years straight.... currently 9:30pm to 8:00am Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon. I love it

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Are you seeing much daylight? If not, make sure you do... this can affect your brain's serotonin levels, and this can have all sorts of strange psychological effects, from sleeplessness to depression to aggression.

I do sympathise... I'm a night person - I concentrate best at night and inevitably feel most awake at 2am...

[eedre]

Originally Posted by James Hart

wow... I'm a 'mole people' huh? You silly day walkers



I've worked 3rd shift for about 3 years straight.... currently 9:30pm to 8:00am Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon. I love it

Take this guy's shift!

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by eedre

Take this guy's shift!

we're hiring

[eedre]

Seriously though, that 3rd shift has got to kill your band playing and hanging out time... but people get along in different ways...

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by eedre

Seriously though, that 3rd shift has got to kill your band playing and hanging out time... but people get along in different ways...

I'm 40 and married... I 'hang' with the wife by choice Plus I get an extra 10% added to my salary for being here for this shift.

my band does a few hours a week. we have a couple days that we are all free at the same time. As far as gigs... I have a flexible schedule, but we aren't even close to gigging at this point. More writing and recording oriented.

[fate]

Go to your local wal-mart, or drug store and get a bottle of melatonin. It is a natural product that will put you to sleep. You will wake up refreshed, and won't have that hazy drugged feeling. It really works well.

I take the 3 MG pill about an hour before i am ready to go to bed. MY body gets very relaxed and tired and i don't lay there and think about everything. Works great for me.

[peterbright]

Make sure you don't slack on exercise as well.

[spade2you]

Originally Posted by fate

Go to your local wal-mart, or drug store and get a bottle of melatonin. It is a natural product that will put you to sleep. You will wake up refreshed, and won't have that hazy drugged feeling. It really works well.

I take the 3 MG pill about an hour before i am ready to go to bed. MY body gets very relaxed and tired and i don't lay there and think about everything. Works great for me.

+1 Another faithful melatonin user here!

Every once in a while I gotta work overnights at the hospital, which isn't bad, but I'm not very good at flipping back and forth.

[FL Knifemaker]

All the years I worked in manufacturing, I prefered the night shift. All the ( . )'s went home at 5 leaving everyone to peace and quiet. The nightshift people usually had some sort of business going themselves. That's how I got my knifemaking business up and running before I quit working.