Any advice for working night shifts

[Sprogonthetyne]

I've just got a new job, probably starting in two weeks. It's overnight 3 days a week. Is there anything I should be doing to readjust my body clock? Should I start staying up now, or is there not much point as I likely switch back for the other 4 days.

The 3 nights are consecutive, with the kids at school or nursery the following days, so should be able to fit in a good amount of sleep. I think I cope pretty well with being tired or having broken sleep, as my oldest didn't actually sleep through for nearly 5 years, with 2 of those years overlapping with his younger sister.

I don’t know .
I have been doing nights for 10 years and tbh , it was ok at the beginning but now it’s very hard .
no matter what I do I’m messed up .

if you switched to night mode then it’s hard to switch back for the rest of the week ..if you don’t you are a mess over night .

my advice would be to find something that doesn’t require nights , my job is 24/7 cover so not much way out . But if you can , avoid them . They are bad . Long term they are bad .

The first night is always the hardest. Don’t stay up late the night before hoping you’ll sleep in longer as it never happens so you end up having less sleep! Get up, be busy, go outside. Then in the afternoon get in bed in darkness and try a nap, listening to a sleepy story on Spotify sometimes helps me. I find most nights shifts I’ve been awake about 26 hours by the end of the first one.

As tempting as it is, don’t drink caffeine in the early hours or you won’t sleep when you’re home!

I did one night shift in the nursing home where I worked, and never did another . I thought I was going to be physically sick by 5am and it took days to get my body back to normal. I'm no night owl

I stay up late the night before so I sleep til lunchtime. I get up in the afternoon & go back to bed about 6 then get up for work about 9.

It's really just trial & error til you find a system that works for you

Ffs. Zombie thread 🤦🏻‍♀️