Night working

[Nob3y]

Am starting a new job on Tuesday and its going to be shift work of 6 days on then two days off then 6 nights on the two days off.

Have any worked night shifts before and can give me any tips or suggestions how to surrvive this ?

[Arginald Valleywater]

Best of luck! Try to keep sleep patterns, diet etc to as near as what you do now. Stay hydrated and don't rely on caffeine or Red Bull type drinks. It will take a while and btw 6 on 2 off is pretty brutal...

[jbomz3]

Is it 12 hour shifts ? I've worked 12 hour shifts for the last 22 years , the last 17 being a 4 on 4 off alternate days and nights , the hardest thing is turning it around from nights to days especially within 2 days , so your first day off (the morning you finish your last night shift) you don't want to be in bed too late . Cheers J .

[Nob3y]

Yea its 12 hour shifts.

So you mean I get home and dont goto bed,or goto bed but not too long?

[Nob3y]

I was thinking of keeping everything the same (but ignoring the clock as such)
so get up at say 5pm then breakfast then work at 7pm the do the shift,get home a 7.30am then dinner,relax for a couple of hours or so then goto bed.
Worth a try?

[jbomz3]

Yes , I try to stay up , but sometimes depending on how tired i am it's harder to do than others but I try to keep busy , doing housework or diy .

[jbomz3]

I always have a relaxing couple of hours before bed , I get home around 6:30 and go to bed about 9ish then get up around 2ish . On the afternoon of my last shift if I plan on staying up the following morning (my first day off) I try to stay in bed till 4 .

[Nob3y]

Ok thanks for tips.
Will give it a go when I start my first night shift

[jbomz3]

I start back on nights tomorrow (sunday) i've always prefered nights to days because i've never been keen on getting up at 5am when i'm on days , it's even worse in my current job . I don't envy the 2 days off though , 48 hours between finish off of nights to starting back on days sounds grim . All the best anyway .

[Sam Slater]

It's the switching over that's the worst.......and winter when you never see daylight. Horrible.