To ask for your night working tips?

[missbipolar]

So I've just got a new job which is a huge step for me!! But it's working nights (permanent nights not shift work) so does anyone have any tips for working nights? I've never worked nights before!

Transition is hard!
You need to try and learn to sleep on cue.
Make sure you have somewhere in the house you can properly get your head down. Good sound proofing, black out blinds etc.

Ear plugs are a good idea. When I get home from night shift at 8am I always have a breakfast. It means I won't wake up halfway through sleep feeling hungry.

I use a fan for white noise to drown out any daytime noise.

Unfortunately I have no option of black out curtains! But fortunately all my housemates work days so the house is very quiet. I'll definitely get some ear plugs. Having breakfast beforehand is a good idea thank you!

You need to 'sleep proof' your bedroom - you'll need proper black out blinds - curtains might not cut it. You'll need to be very shit on self-care; working nights can take a toll on your mental health so figure out what works for you early on; yoga / meditation / candles in bath/ whatever. You'll need to eat healthily and drink water - don't underestimate the toll nights can have on the body. Try to get into a rhythm asap so you're not out and about during the day because 'it's daytime'.

You will fart a lot at night. 4am is when we all start trumpeting.
How long are the shifts?
Before night one, get up early, get plenty of fresh air and have a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon.
After final night, only sleep til lunchtime.
Take toothbrush and paste with you and clean your teeth after your break.
I always did a sudoku and had a proper Coke about 4/5am but we worked until 8am. Kept me going the last few hours.
You will wee a lot in the first few hours of your morning sleep, bit of a pain but try to just stumble to loo and back keeping eyes closed.

If you've never done it before it's going to be hard to switch around your routine, and sleeping during the day can be really difficult. Ideally you need an empty or very quiet house, black out blinds and a strict routine of when to sleep / eat.

Also you need to understand you'll probably get less sleep than you've been used to, as broken sleep is more common when you're trying to sleep during the day. Waking due general noise, postman, neighbour noise, deliveries, traffic noise, children playing etc.

I wish you luck in the new job. I did nights for 2 years and found it really difficult, it had a huge impact on my mood and I felt quite isolated from friends and family, but others find it works really well.

I love my sleep mask with built in earphones, you can get one from amazon. I just stick podcasts on till I fall asleep. I can't sleep without it now even when I'm off

They're only 8 hours shifts (10pm-6am) I'll be lone working 2 days a week so will be busy enough to stay awake! Thankfully I have an ensuite so not far to stumble if I need a wee!

Food is key. You will get the munchies in the night so plan what you want to eat or you will find yourself downing five packets of monster munch from the vending machine.
I would normally have one meal and two snacks planned but not always eaten

@missbipolar

Unfortunately I have no option of black out curtains! But fortunately all my housemates work days so the house is very quiet. I'll definitely get some ear plugs. Having breakfast beforehand is a good idea thank you!

You can buy 'blinds' with suction cups that attach to your windows.

If you currently have curtains on a simple rail you can just hit some cheap ones from ikea, I think I paid about £25 for mine

I work night shifts but only every 3 weeks. I find them hard but over the years I’ve found things that help.

You’ll definitely need black out curtains. I have a black out blind, black out curtains and block any light coming from underneath the door 😂 I also wear ear plugs and have a fan on in my room for white noise. Eat before you go to bed and don’t drink much in the last few hours otherwise you’ll wake up needing the toilet.

Before my first night shift, I get up early then go back to bed in the afternoon for a couple of hours then after my last one, I only let myself sleep for a few hours. That way, my body can get back into day mode easily.

I often wake up after a few hours when trying to sleep after night shifts. Whatever you do, do not look at your phone, get distracted… it can be hard to get back to sleep if you do!

Good luck!

You’ll likely wake up at ‘lunchtime’ and the temptation is to get up and about and use all that lovely afternoon/evening time to do stuff.

So get used to thinking ‘would I do this at night?’ And the likely reply is no. You wouldn’t go to bed at 9.30pm, wake at 1am and then spend hours in town (or doing housework or whatever ) and then do a full working day!

It’s a bit different if you have to get up for the school run etc of course.

So when I do nights, if I wake at ‘lunchtime’ I try and rest, if I really can’t I get up and do low key things and physically go back to bed later in the afternoon. I also make sure my family know it is early morning for me and just as I wouldn’t cook a big dinner for them at 5am, I won’t do it in the early morning even if it is teatime for them…

If you have to do any weekends you might need to find a solution with the others in the house as it is likely they will start their day just at the time you could easily be woken and not be able to get back off.

I will say I’ve never slept better than when i was on nights. I often have trouble falling asleep at night but on days I would be out like an absolute light. I had very young children too so would often be disturbed at night, but they were out at childcare during the day.
There’s NOTHING better than coming home from a night shift, seeing everyone else tootle off to work and then you slide into bed in a quiet house and drift off.
It is quite isolating though, I often felt like I was going “under” when I left for first night. I wouldn’t really see my house or husband or kids again other than very fleetingly until I resurfaced after getting up from my last night three days later. We did 13 hour nights tho, hopefully with 8 hours you will have a bit more normal time. How many are you going a week?

I much prefer nights, I worked a combination of both (nursing) and had no issue in switching my days to nights. My strategy was to completely turn my nights into days, so after work I would come home, have something to eat watch a bit of TV, maybe go for food shopping etc then go to bed, then when getting up I would treat it as a typical 'morning' so washed, dressed, food & travel to work. I think you wouldn't get up in the middle of the night to see your family etc so don't try to do it during your sleep after work either. Turn night into day - you'll be fine!

I did nights in a supermarket as a student. Agree with pp, have some food and wind down time when you get home in the morning rather than trying to go straight to bed. I too had the most amazing sleep of my life post night shift; the only times I've gone down quicker and deeper is when I've had a general anaesthetic!

Take a packed lunch/snacks to keep you going as it's so easy to end up turning to junk to give you an energy boost. I used to get a slump 2-3am and then a second wind which kept me going until the end of the shift
Congrats on your new job and best of luck

You will fart a lot at night. 4am is when we all start trumpeting.

@Timeforanewoneofthese, I'm intrigued! Is 4am honestly the hour of farting?

Yup it is. Terrible bloating and wind at night. I think because you are eating and drinking but your digestive system has slowed down.
Luckily I was with labouring women so if there were any smells I could blame them.

I used to be a ward nurse and work shifts including nights - thank goodness I don't do shiftwork anymore! I used to find starting nights ok. I'd get up at my normal time the morning before starting my night shift, do whatever that day and not sleep before going off to work. I'd get home somewhere between 8 and 8.30 the next morning and go straight to bed. I didn't have blackout blinds (just drew my curtains) or need white noise or anything - it's usually very quiet by me but I would be that tired I could sleep through anything, including my neighbour doing building work! I'd get up about 4 and keep that routine going until the end of my nights. I'd get up about midday after my last night shift to try and get back in to a day routine (that was the bit I struggled with).

I drank a fair bit of coffee but didn't drink enough water, I often felt dehydrated. I couldn't eat on night shifts, others would be sitting there eating snacks all night long but I always felt sick. Sometimes I'd eat my sandwiches either before driving home or when I got home, before going to bed. On my first ward, I'd take a book to read on my break but on my second ward (which was busier overnight) I'd just choose to work through my break. When I was a student, my mentor would tell me to have a sleep but I just felt worse for doing that so wouldn't.

Driving home was horrible. I had no alternative, rubbish public transport (heard about colleagues who got on trains and buses and slept past their destination, one was visiting her boyfriend a few towns/cities away, ended up getting woken on the train a couple of hundred miles past her stop!) and far too far to walk - about 20 miles. I used to drive home with the windows open and sing along to the music.

I hated it (but that could have been due to the fact I was constantly swapping, we could do four 11 hour nights, finish Saturday morning and be back in on two 14 hour days from Sunday morning). I had some colleagues, who mostly worked nights, who loved them. I would always happily swap night shifts for days with my colleagues.

@missbipolar

They're only 8 hours shifts (10pm-6am) I'll be lone working 2 days a week so will be busy enough to stay awake! Thankfully I have an ensuite so not far to stumble if I need a wee!

Are you in the hospitality sector by any chance?

Get yourself a decent eye mask if blackout curtains aren't an option. Earplugs are a must too

You will learn your own routine for best sleep. I tend to stay awake until around 0900 I have broken sleep when I'm night but I don't plan to do much between shifts so that I can go back to bed.

The urge to eat rubbish is higher for me when Im nights. I have to make sure I've got healthy snack and proper meals available to curb just eating rubbish.

You'll find your own way, nights are tough and as long and you get a good amount of sleep you should be able to cope

Thanks for all the advice! It's not hospitality its for a logistics company. I'll be doing 5 shifts a week (sun-thurs).
Do you think its better to try and stay in the same routine on my days off or have a more 'normal' schedule on those days?

It's probably better to stay in nightshift mode if you can, it'll be easier on your body. Obviously with adjustments to suit your social life!

Earplugs and a good eye mask help. I used to go backwards and have dinner when I got home, then breakfast when I woke up. Make your bed as comfy as possible.

I don’t think you could stay up all night and sleep all day when you aren’t working?
Tbh is sounds a very very rough schedule with only proper day off a week…. Most jobs where you work short nights are week on week off. Other night jobs are long nights three a week. I’d imagine they have trouble retaining people in the role. Probably worth starting, being a good employee then negotiating a change asap.