I started on 3rd Shift with my current job. I would get off of work when the sun was just coming up. No matter what I did my body told me "the sun is shining, get up and do something" Day after day I was woken up by the noise of traffic, construction, salesmen knocking on the door, the garbage trucks and everything else under the sun. I would sleep for a couple of hours, then get up a do something, then go back to sleep for an hour (if I'm lucky), then drag my butt, half asleep, to work. I switched to 2nd shift , which I love. I get off at midnight when it's still dark outside. I fall asleep right away and I'm able to stay asleep until 9 or 10 in the morning.
You need a blackout bedroom that is silent during the day and you need to be in bed and sleeping before 8-9am to get enough sleep and not get burnt out.......thirds is a hard shift to work..... Peace WildBill
I worked as a night watchman at a county park every summer in college. Not a great way to make friends, and I imagine it would be a lot harder mentally / physically now, but I kinda dug it.
I worked swing shifts for years as a first responder. This included 12 hour shifts, 2 weeks of days and 2 weeks of nights which rotated. Over the years I perfected what worked for me. Black out curtains, a fan, a sleep mask and ear plugs. I also used 3mg of melatonin on the really difficult days. It had to be 3mg no more or less but I reserved that for only once in awhile so to not disturb my bodies natural melatonin production. Don’t discredit the sleep mask it made a huge difference for me. You can research about it. I’ve now been promoted and no longer work swing shifts. I still do an on call status rotation which requires me to be called out all hours of the night sometimes if I’m needed but my regular schedule is generally days now.
Many years ago I handled a very interesting case that focused on shift work and the effects of sleep disturbances on the brain. For an expert witness I used a former military medical officer who specialized in the effects sleep deprivation on military personnel operating nuclear missile silos. It was an eye opener.
I did shiftwork for 30 years, 12 hour shifts. Usually went 2 dayshifts, 3 nights, 5 days off, 3 days, 2 nights, 4 days off, and then 2 days, 2 nights, 5 days off. It was ok to start, when I was younger, but as I got older things got worse. I used to keep the room dark when trying to sleep, and watch coffee and food intake after midnight while on shift. It doesn't matter how dark you make things if you have windows open, because the rest of the world is up mowing lawns, running heavy equipment, hooting and hollering and running power tools. So get A/C for the house and seal things up. Stay away from supplements and drugs, they'll only mess you up in the long term. I got off shift 5 years ago and finally got rid of the jet-lag I'd had for 30 years. I'll never do it again, and the funny thing is, my body now refuses to stay up, and on my last trip to Europe the jet lag was phenomenal. The only issue after 30 years of shiftwork is the fact that sleep is still elusive; I used to be a deep sleeper and now I'm not. But, after I got off shift I started to be able to dream again. Sleep deprivation is a real thing and affects everyone differently. Listen to your body.
We worked that schedule for 15 years or so before they shut the mill down. I loved it! 4 days off every week!
When I was a kid, my dad worked 3rd shift. I hated it. I only saw my dad for a few minutes before I went to school in the morning and for a few minutes before I went to bed at night when he was getting ready to go to work.
I've been working nightshift for 25 years. Its getting harder but in the bigger city there are benefits too as already mentioned by others. Our current shift is 5 on 5 off, 730pm to 7am (we do have an early shift as well ends at 330am but not very often on that one). Been doing nights on that shift for 20 years, some definitely handle it better than others. To help with sleep, you need a pattern. I always come home, spend an hour or so just reading, relaxing and having a small drink (just water/pop/juice) and maybe a snack. Don't think about or make big decisions. Black out your room, and I mean black...high density foam can be cut to fill in windows and use heavy curtains. Background noise will help (ceiling fan in my case), there are specific foods that will help you sleep (look it up too much to type out) and some guys will use small does of melatonin to help (I don't). When on shift keep busy, if you aren't active the brain starts to shut down, I like taking on big jobs or hard troubleshooting issues for that reason. There is all kinds of info on this subject online everyone is different so you have to find what works for you. My first day off I usually sleep about 5-6 hours, then get up early afternoon...that night usually tired and go to bed about midnight-1am next day I'm up at 8-9am and days off are usually good. Most of all you need to be aware when on shift that nights is not normal for humans, keep an eye on yourself and others, if you find yourself making mistakes, take a break or go for a run or a gym (we have one on site), that helps for sure. We are often doing high power runs at 6-7 am after working all night on the machines and a guy has to be crazy careful taxiing around the airport in jetliners, if you are tired or aren't up to it tell somebody and bow out no matter what you are doing. Everyone has bad nights. Shifts make a big difference, longer shifts with more nights off is better, you need recovery time or you will become a zombie. That said I could NEVER work a 5 on 2 off shift of any sort like normal people...never enough time after work to do anything big and weekends are ridiculously short. Also 4am seems to be the natural cutoff for lots of people, on our early shift if I can be home by 4am the next day is flat out normal. Anyone who says they work nights but doesn't go past that hour is not really working nightshift. That's why people who stay awake until 1 or 2 am don't see the real issues. Hope that helps.
