Midnight Shift- Kicking my butt.

Slight rant.

I am kicking myself for volunteering for the midnight shift here at my work. There were 4 other people who could have volunteered this month but being the helpful person I am, spoke up and said "sure I'll do it."




Everyone is supposed to take a turn at this junk shift. I'm gonna be so happy when someone takes over the reigns from me. I need sleep. It's so difficult for me to sleep during the daylight hours. Not to mention the yard work/ stump grinding/ motor revving action that seemly occurs under my window every day at 10am-2pm.

Even my relationship is suffering because I am as grumpy as a dang ol'bear when I wake up in the evenings.

/rant off

I completely understand! I am still awake now though I am tired because of working nights. It gets loud here at my apartment during the day too.

I've worked night shift for the past 2 and a half years and still have a little trouble sleeping during the day. The only reason I can do it fairly easily is because we work 3 twelve hour shifts. I can sleep at night the other 4 days of the week.

The best thing that has helped me is buying black out shades for the windows. They were expensive at about $100 a window, but it makes a huge difference. Black out curtains as opposed to shades work great too and deaden sound as well. The other thing that helps a whole lot is keeping the room very cool. Our body temperature naturally falls at night which is part of what makes us sleepy. It is harder to sleep when your body temperature is high. I don't know if it gets cold where you are, but right now I have no heat in my bedroom during the day. We have zone heating so I just turn the upstairs thermostat off and let the downstairs stay warm. It stays around 60 degrees upstairs.

Is there anyway you can get whoever is making so much noise to come back later in the day? If not, think about getting ear plugs. They're not the best for your ears and you'll have to be vigilant about getting wax impacted in there, but sleep is really important too. I know a few people who live in apartments who use them when they sleep during the day. It makes a big difference.

Ah! the graveyard shift -aptly named because you are dead on your feet most of the time!

I worked midnights or early morning call for many years ( when I say early, I mean be at work at 3am). I NEVER adjusted to it and soooooo glad that I hopefully will NEVER, EVER have to do it again. I feel for you. But at least it's temporary.

AB

I used to be the overnighter stock person for a store in the mall. It was from 9pm to 4am sometimes later depending on the time of year or for inventory. I never got used to it. No matter how much I slept it never seemed to be enough and the pay was not worth it. I'm so glad to have a normal scheduled job now. But I still find nights where I can't seem to sleep because I did it for so long my body adjusted to it.

Ah yes...the joys of working nights I agree that earplugs help, and eye shades (cheaper than buying new curtains)

It's also really important to make sure you stay hydrated and eat often throughout your shift, it sounds silly but for me it makes a huge difference.

I've been working the Midnight Shift for all most 10 years. I HATE it.

I actually liked working night shift for awhile. But it took it's toll on me.

I live in an apartment building and between the other tenants, construction, and the noise from outside (boats, big trucks, car horns etc) I just wasn't able to get enough sleep and I was becoming a zombie. I also have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is basically a depression caused by not enough sunlight.

When I worked 8 hour night shifts I managed pretty well with the sleeping and "light" issues. But when I moved to 12 hour night shifts, I found myself getting more and more depressed because I started work at 7:30pm and worked until 8:00am. I went to work in the dark and came home just after the sun had risen but had to go to bed and get some sleep. Factoring in travel time to and from work, sleep, morning and before bed routines and cooking my 3 meals for the next day, laundry and whatever else I needed to do, I was lucky if I managed to get 6 hours of sleep a "day".

I finally went and looked for a position in the hospital for days and evenings because I was a complete basket case. Tired, grumpy...ok, more than grumpy, and really depressed to the point I was pysically sick.

So I certainly empathize with you. Some people really like nights and do really well with it. Others don't. I know some people that will only work night shift and really enjoy it and have managed to find a way to balance it all with their lives. I never could do that.

My advice is to stop volunteering to take more than your share of nights since you obviously don't enjoy them, and they seem to work against your body's natural rhythm.

All but one of my BIL"s have worked at area paper mills. And these mills do 12 hr swings so one shift you could be on nights, the next days. I don't know how they did it.

Thanks for all the advice. I just found out I have to tough it out 2 more weeks too because the person that I was going to swap with hours didn't coincide with mine and I would have 42 hours for the week and not 40...

So they won't pay me for 2 hours OT, and won't let me take off 2 hours...and I am StUCK doing this another 2 weeks. I am so depressed. I was so happy to swap out for the weeks prior to xmas.

i love midnights,

here is what you do, treat nights the same way as you do a day job, ..

i go to bed around 11am-get up around 5
put stuff up to block the light coming into the room,
sleep with a FAN on high, or air cleaner or both. unplug your phone.

i went to days for a short time, but could not funcation at all, I am just part vampire, no matter where i am , my body just wants to be awake at night.

Thanks I've been trying, still hard for me.



And another /rant.

OMG! Customers are driving me nuts tonight.

Sometimes I really hate working CS. When your trying to help someone and they get rude with you for NO reason.