12 hour shift work

[pancakes22]

Hi all, just interested to know how people cope with tiredness when doing 12 hour shifts?

I currently do 2 days a week desk job 9-5 but am hoping to apply for a ward position which will be 12 hours shift work....

I always feel so tired (even when the kids sleep through!!) never mind doing so many more hours on my feet and just a bit worried about how I will cope if I'm yawning after 7 hours!! Anyone been in similar boat? How did you cope with the adjustment when you started? Does your body just get used to it?

I did 12 hour shifts in a nursing home (HCA) and found it relentless and exhausting. There was no drop in pace, and I used to really struggle from 4pm to 7pm. There were quite a few occasions when I was driving home that I could feel my eyes getting heavy, and then got home to the chaos of DH having cooked tea and the DC having baths/bedtime.... by the time I got to bed I was beyond tired, and found I felt horrid the next day which meant you didn't enjoy your days off either.

I lasted just over 14 months.......... I take my hat off to those who do it all the time.

That unfortunately is exactly how I imagine it. I really want to apply for this job but I'm so scared of feeling like that too. It's a shame these kind of shifts have to be that long :(

I have worked both 12 hour shifts and 9-5 as a nurse.

I would hands down take the 12 hour shifts any day. Perhaps that is because its what I am used to and when you come home at five or whatever time you get home you have the evening shift to contend with if you have DC.
Honestly I find it easier to be at work and to let DH who works 9-5 deal with that stress.

Also 12 hour shifts mean less days worked per week overall.

Good luck with whatever you choose but honestly sitting at a desk causes me to be more fatigued than on my feet in a fast paced environment.
Added bonus is being able to eat a lot of treats and not put on weight due to all the extra activity

I went from sixth form at 18 to uni to train to be a midwife, so straight in to 13hr shifts, now 12.5hrs with a 60min break (on a good day, at some point, yesterday it was at 5pm after starting at 7.30).

Stay hydrated, have snacks, early to bed the night before, shower before work. I do get tired, but am just very used to it and don’t know any different. I find 9-5 5 days a week super hard and tiring!

How long is the piece of string?

I’m sorry OP but some people take it better than the others.

Depends on the job- how physically demanding it is,how many and how long breaks you have,how busy you are, is it nightshift or dayshift,are the shifts staggered or not...

I do 2x12hrs nightshift sometimes more physical sometimes less. My workload determines how tired I am afterwards.

18yo DD managed doing some each week just not daily -- care home work. She's not got great stamina & was grateful for hot meal when she got home.

I do 13 hour day and night shifts (nurse not on a ward though)and really depends on how your day goes. Much prefer to a 9-5 for me

It depends exactly what the shifts involve - 12 hours running around between emergencies or twelve hours with a rhythm of peaks and troughs.

I do 20 hour shifts once per week which sometimes have to actually be 22-24 hours (arranged in advance, not without notice) but midnight to 6am is "readiness" not waking night shift, so I can sleep - not a full night's sleep but a few hours.

I actually prefer it when I'm fairly busy at work as it goes faster and feels more purposeful - when its very quiet or in the unusual situation we're very well staffed but there's nothing special going on it's actually somewhat demotivating!

I remember desk job days sometimes going really slowly. I prefer shift work as I have days off in the week and there's more variety. A Friday late shift or a Sunday day or a Monday early are obviously all completely and utterly different.

I wouldn't like 12 hour shifts where they were all full out non stop though.

I used to do 14 hour shifts as a support worker, loved the extra days off and found them much easier than being sat behind a desk for 8 hours a day.

I do them in a nursing home. I don't find them too bad to be honest. PP is right though, there's no real change in pace all day and you are non stop. But that makes the time fly by.
I do like that I do less days because I do longer shifts.

I always make sure I've got my water bottle which I carry around and keep hydrated (infection control may not be a fan of this, but it's always boiling in nursing homes so I don't care). A sense of humour gets you through it as well.

I'd sooner do 12 hour shifts in a nursing home then 9-5 in an office. But I don't have kids though so only have myself and DH to think about.

I do 12 1/2 hour night shifts in a dementia unit, always busy till about 3 am. Then it hits you at 3 am and you start to feel tired. I would prefer to do 12 1/2 hour night shifts to day shifts.

I work 12 hour shifts. I recently did 9-5 for a month (still on my feet) and found that I was just as tired and had fewer days off to recover. I hated it and couldn't wait to go back to 3x12h.

I loved 12 hr day shifts 7-7.we did blocks of 5.

However I absolutely hated night shift 7-7 it’s the most evil thing I’ve experienced (as I could never sleep properly in the day time) so felt so sick whilst working them some days I was like a drunk I felt a walking zombie.

I didn’t enjoy working Xmas day, Boxing Day , new yrs eve and the bank hols .... check out if you do!