Anyone worked night shifts?

[Celebrityskin88]

I have applied for a role which will involve two night shifts a week (10pm-7am). It's not 2 nights on the trot which is good, I have known people to work 4/5 nights straight and wonder how they manage.
Has anyone been doing them long-term and hasn't been too badly affected by them, health wise?
Never done them before, any tips on how to get through them? It's in care btw.

I did for years. I'm a night owl and chronic insomniac so it worked great for me. Didn't effect me at all. You don't go right to bed after getting off work, so after work I'd go and work out, go out to eat, do errands.

I've worked shifts for 17 years. I don't sleep particularly well in general and usually run off 4/5 hours sleep between nights.

I'm a night owl and cope much better with nights than earlies.

Earplugs are a must for me and really good blackout blinds are essential

I work 3 nights 10-7am .

You will find it either suits you or it doesn't .
I love it esp during summer . I hate to be trapped at work when the sun was shining .
Def ear plugs and a bedside fan .
A hearty breakfast will help you sleep longer .

Nights spread out during the week is worse than 2 days in a row IMO.

Tips for the shift are to keep hydrated, eat a meal on your break or at least snack little and often if you can’t face a meal, and keep active and moving.

5am was when the tiredness started to hit me, I found keeping moving helped a little but honestly I hated nights.

If you have to do a handover to other staff keep a record as the shift goes on and make yourself tasks/notes so you remember in the morning.

Day before - sleep as much as you can, and have something to eat before you start work.

After the shift - try and have a sleep when you get home after some breakfast, then get up at dinner time so you can sleep at night.

Thanks for the replies I'm willing to give it a go, I don't have any children so I would have the days to myself, the only problem is that I live next door to a school so can constantly hear kids screaming at breaktimes lol so earplugs will be good.
Hopefully I'll manage ok.

I work nights as a nurse, i do 13 hour shifts - 7:30pm-8:30am. Its fine especially if its only 1 night at a time.

I don't think you need to be sleeping nearly as much as the previous poster suggested, it would totally mess up my sleep cycle if I did that. I normally nap for 2 hours before work and then maybe 3.5 hours after work and I'll still sleep fine that night.

@shivawn

I work nights as a nurse, i do 13 hour shifts - 7:30pm-8:30am. Its fine especially if its only 1 night at a time.

I don't think you need to be sleeping nearly as much as the previous poster suggested, it would totally mess up my sleep cycle if I did that. I normally nap for 2 hours before work and then maybe 3.5 hours after work and I'll still sleep fine that night.

Yeah must admit I only power nap before my first shift but that can sometimes not happen then I'm my first day off after shift I only sleep 4 hours so I can switch back over . I suppose everyone's different, we have different sleep schedules at work .

You won't know until you do it. I got about 2 hours sleep sometimes less. I'm a natural early bird, and wouldn't dream of napping in the day normally. My partner on the other hand is a night owl and can sleep on a washing line. He did nights off shore and slept wonderfully. I dropped nights as soon as I could - I felt unsafe at work knowing I was exhausted.

It didn't suit me, I put on loads of weight and got ill a lot. But I do like 8 hours sleep so probably not the right person for it. My shifts were 15 hours so not enough time in between for a decent sleep.
Would just advise try not to eat unhealthy foods - you may find you crave sugar in the early hours but try to resist! And sleep in the day after your shift - don't plan too many other activities.

@Celebrityskin88 Are you doing these 2 nights only? Or days shifts in between?

I do 3 nights - 10pm-8pm, and they're all consecutive. It's absolutely fine. The flip over from my day off onto nights can be a bit iffy but it works well for me, but I have no children to wake me up etc.

Is it two nights exclusively or mixed with days ?

I work nights in my line of work. You do get used to it, but it takes its toll on your body. I eat more and it takes me a few days to get through the brain fog. Much worse when you do a mix though than exclusively nights.

Give it a go, if you don’t like it then it’s just something for your CV. The role could lead to something else.

@Suffolkpunch345 I wondered that too. Is it just 2 night shifts only per week? Or 2 night shifts, with 2-3 days mixed in the middle.

Coz if the latter is the case, the OP will be permanently tired, and have no life.

Earplugs, blackout window covering and background white noise. Dh always preferred a light breakfast and in bed by 9am (kids away to school so easier to settle). Up at 4/5pm, have tea as family, play with kids, do homework, put kids to bed then head out to work around 9pm. Pre kids he would go for a run then we would eat later

I would recommend trying to run the nights together. Each night actually takes up two of your days mentally, so running them together will minimise that.

Get up early before your first night, get plenty of fresh air then try and have a nap around 4. Have a shower and some dinner and head to work. Take plenty of fresh feeling food, drink plenty. Brush your teeth half way through the night. I always had a can of Coke and did a sudoku about 4am! It helped me to to power on. I always slept on my break if I could.

On getting home I had a shower, some toast then off to bed, I was out like an absolute light. Slept until about 4, up, had dinner and another shower and went in again.

I enjoyed nights. You will be bloated and fart a lot. And you don’t wee much at night, but you will wee a lot the next day, some people didn’t drink much overnight to combat this but I always felt better for drinking, and just accepted I would be up for a few wees in the first couple of hours of sleep the next day.

White noise can help the next day if you have trouble dropping off, but I never did.

The day after my last night I would sleep until 1, but I felt groggy all day. Had an early night then back to normal the next day, which is why I would always want to run my nights together as otherwise I felt I lost more days to feeling groggy.

He transition to days by having a short sleep then going to bed around midnight.

I'm on my 3rd night shift 12 1/2 hours. My sleep pattern are all to put, had 3 hours sleep yesterday and 5 today.

I did nights ( Nursing ) for years on end when my dc'd were young. Looking back I don't know how I did it as it was such a stressful job running round all night, very stressful situations, people dying etc, and then I would grab a few hours sleep and then look after the kids. I was like a zombie. I think if you can get a decent sleep then it's ok.
My kids say a lot of what they remember from weekends as a kid was having to try and be quiet as mummy was sleeping which I feel bad about now. I wish I hadn't done it but there was no real alternative for childcare.

There is only 1 senior carer, that's me and 2 carers for 30 dementia residents. We are kept busy all night as we do cleaning as well. By the end of the shift we are dead on our feet.