Night Shift and Graveyard work hours

musicismylife78

I have been on this schedule of working 1030 pm to 7 am for 5 weeks now. I am a straight edge kid, and it feels almost like I am on drugs or something. its pretty awful. And for me, I need to go to concerts and shows. And working 1030 pm to 7 am you cant get to too many shows, and if you make it to some, its usually just the opener.

its truely bizaare sleeping while everyone is awake. Sleeping during the day. I still cant really wrap my head around it.

I have heard stories about how this shift, night shift, graveyard, can cause major health problem, cancer and what not. I wouldnt be surprised.

Although it kind of is ironic. I romanticize the whole rock star lifestyle, and in many ways they do this shift as well to a certain extent. Sleeping during the day most likely and then performing at night.

Anyone here work a similar shift for a time period? Anyone currently working such a shift?

Gary Carter

i've been working overnights for 20 months now. the first few months were rough, i'd drive home thinking wtf is worng with me that i'm working overnights. it will take time adjusting to it, i start at midnight and am usually home around 5am-6am. its made me grow up in some ways. its weird eating chicken nuggets or bacon cheeseburgers in the morning.

Thoughts_Arrive

Never done it, never want to do it, never will do it.
My dad done it for years and it's messed him up, the lack of sleep has caught up with him and he falls asleep easy on the couch haha

spat

i did it for 3 years, and trust me, you will never feel "normal" as long as you do it, but just try to use it to your advantage. i can empathize with the concert thing, but i would find ways to make it work (ie. lack of sleep!). but it was cool in the summer cuz i'd have my whole days to just do whatever like go to the beach while everyone else was at work, it was pretty great. and on my nights off i'd wake up about 1am then hit up the 24 hour mcdonalds! but would i work that shift again? Hell no! the main thing is to just figure out for yourself when the best time is for you to sleep. like do you come home and go to sleep right away, or sleep before you go into work. for me i'd get home about 7am, stay up all day then hit the sack about 4ish, go to work at 10:30

SPEEDY MCCREADY

i tried it for about 6 months......that was 15 years ago...

i wouldnt work that shift again in a million years....


GET OFF THAT SHIFT!!!!!!!


its not good for the body....
its not good for the mind......

its just wear and tear that your body doesnt need.................

DeLukin

I just saw this article about a recent study yesterday. Very interesting read:

For years, scientists have known that people who work night shifts — about 15 million people in the United States — are unusually prone to heart disease, bone fractures, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

The patterns were initially explained as a function of poor nutrition and low exercise, but night workers don't necessarily live less healthy lives than their day shift counterparts. Risks remained high even when lifestyle was removed from the equation...

cont'd: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009 ... shift.html

mfc2006

i don't think i could handle that. i was once a store mgr @ Target and had to work overnight for one week doing inventory right before Christmas. it took me another week to feel "normal" once that week was over. not fun at all.

blackredyellow

When I was single, I probably would be ok with it... but with a family, it would be tough.

For years when I was little, my dad worked swing shifts for years. 7 days of 8-4, 7 days of 4-12 & 7 days of midnight-8 (with 2-3 days off in between). Talk about fucking up your sleep schedule.

battan1120

mfc2006 wrote:

i don't think i could handle that. i was once a store mgr @ Target and had to work overnight for one week doing inventory right before Christmas. it took me another week to feel "normal" once that week was over. not fun at all.

I work at a Target Dc.4pm-2am.If it was'nt for the 3 day weekends agood pay I'd have left a long time ago.I'm aleawys tired

Heatherj43

I've worked the midnight shift a lot! The worse for me was that the rest of the world does not care if you work midnights! I'd get awoken a lot for minor things. They'd say, "I know you are sleeping, but I only need one second.", or something to that effect. They wouldn't recognize that other people were doing this too and that I wouldn't fall back asleep instantly.
Many people in my life would say things like, "you sleep too much".!!!! To them it probably did seem like I slept a lot, cuz 6 to 8 hours in the day is a lot, IF you slept all night. Intelligent people somehow didn't get the concept that I hadn't slept all night.
I have told people who pissed me off by doing these things, that I would wake them up throughout the night and do the same things and see how they like it!
Then, yep, there's the whole thing of no life! I never could figure it out, but if I work while others sleep and they work while I sleep, shouldn't we both have the same free time? It never worked out like that. It seemed I had about 2-4 hours of free time.
I know why they call that shift the graveyard shift, it WILL kill you!

_Crazy_Mary_

When my daughter was 2, I worked from 8 pm to 6 am waiting tables. Then, I went home & slept til 10 at which point I went to pick my daughter up from my mom. It was horrible. On my nights off I still went to bed at a decent time, about 10 pm because I was sleep-deprived. Did that shift for 2 years and I don't think I could ever do it again.

tybird

Did the 3:30 p.m.-11:30 pm shift for a number of years....Monday-Friday....great way to kill a social life

Arcticangel

tybird wrote:

Did the 3:30 p.m.-11:30 pm shift for a number of years....Monday-Friday....great way to kill a social life

I *love* working second shift. The shift differential is great, and since I'm a night owl, I can stay up late or go out when I get done and not have to worry about waking up early the next day. Or I can wake up early and get my studying/errands/whatever done before work. Hasn't killed my social life too much.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

tybird wrote:

Did the 3:30 p.m.-11:30 pm shift for a number of years....Monday-Friday....great way to kill a social life

i LOVE working this shift.........

nothing like waking up at the crack of noon...........

_

I think different shifts work well for different people. When I was in college I frequently worked 6 PM to 3 AM and would then stay up until about 7 AM. It was great for me. The main problem was the lack of respect/understanding from others, as has already been mentioned. I had a roommate (the last one I'll ever have) who would get up right after I went to bed and be really noisy. When I asked her to keep it down she would act like I was just lazy and needed to get up and had no right to expect her to be quiet during the daytime. Also, I found it much easier to have a social life (at least on my days off, 'cuz I was used to being up late) and to run errands than with the regular day job I have now.

As for the effects of working nights on one's mental and physical health, it's my understanding that it's working inconsistent hours that's really bad for you - moreso than working the same night shift on a regular basis.

Good luck to you!

jammergirl

Arcticangel wrote:

tybird wrote:

Did the 3:30 p.m.-11:30 pm shift for a number of years....Monday-Friday....great way to kill a social life

I *love* working second shift. The shift differential is great, and since I'm a night owl, I can stay up late or go out when I get done and not have to worry about waking up early the next day. Or I can wake up early and get my studying/errands/whatever done before work. Hasn't killed my social life too much.

I agree with this. I've been working the night shift for a couple years now (a server), its usually from 4-5 til about 9 or 10-12 on weekends. I love having my days free to do errands, go to the gym, chores etc. then about 3pm I get my work burst of energy and I'm ready to go. As far as impacting the social life, I'm usually getting off work when most people are just going out in my town. win-win. I can't speak for working the graveyard shift though. That is a completely different animal, IMO.

Gary Carter

see the great thing bout working the graveyard shift is you're able to drink beer at 6:30 am and eat chicken nuggets and play scrabulous with sen while listening to pj boots

dunkman

metsfan wrote:

see the great thing bout working the graveyard shift is you're able to drink beer at 6:30 am and eat chicken nuggets and play scrabulous with sen while listening to pj boots

not to get at you here Metsy.... but thats sounds like a living nightmare.

if the best thing about working nights is eating chicken nuggets and playing an online computer game whilst listening to 14 versions of Alive then i'm seriously missing something.


i used to do nights way back when i worked in a supermarket... it was hard as hell on the body.. i only ever did a Sunday night... 8pm -6am... then i would sleep to like 3-4pm... and then most times come back in to a day shift on the Tuesday... which was a nightmare as i'd slept so much during the monday that on a monday night i would still be awake at 2am... It felt like i'd never left the fucking place sometimes.

Gary Carter

dunkman wrote:

metsfan wrote:

see the great thing bout working the graveyard shift is you're able to drink beer at 6:30 am and eat chicken nuggets and play scrabulous with sen while listening to pj boots

not to get at you here Metsy.... but thats sounds like a living nightmare.

if the best thing about working nights is eating chicken nuggets and playing an online computer game whilst listening to 14 versions of Alive then i'm seriously missing something.

i did mean like it was THE best thing. but its a cool perk to have.not a living nightmare at all. its something i look foward to every fridays

kenny olav

been there. done that. never going back again.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

Kenny Olav wrote:

been there. done that. never going back again.

never ever ever....

i wouldnt work that shitty shift again in a million years..............

shell bell

I work 3:30am to when ever (usualy 2pm in the afternoon). It's hard to do and today I had to come in at 1:30 am to go out and talk to people that went to see the midnight showing of watchmen.i'll newver get use to this shift.

gregkitefan

This is Chuck to remind Bill to shut up!
This is Chuck to remind Bill to shut up!

evenflow

Right now I'm on a split shift because I have to meet with both the day shift and the night shift supervisors. I get up at 1:00am, leave the house by 1:30am, and get to the plant for 3:00am. I usually try to leave by 10:00am. I love this schedule. I get home around 11:30am and get to spend all day with my daughter. Then we go to sleep at the same time.

Speaking of, I need to go now and take my shower, it's almost my bedtime.

And yes, this schedule would interfere with my social life, that is of course if I still had one. The wife and baby killed that way before my work schedule did .

Thunderclap

Speedy said it best.... that shift will kill you. I've worked every possible shift in the world and the 10:00 to 6:30 shift was the worst ever. I did it for 6 months and about the time I got used to it, I was taken off of it. I gained weight, I hardly ever got a good "day's" sleep, and I spent my days off bored to tears. I kept my sleep schedule on my days off, so on Saturday I wouldn't get up until long after lunchtime, and then I'd stay up until 6am, long after everyone was asleep. It especially sucked living in a boring ass town with nothing to do in the first place. It was even worse at 2am. But I did become good friends (briefly) with a PJ fan in Sydney, Australia

So, to sum it up, get the fuck off that shitty shift before it kills you :!: :!: :!:

Jeanwah

I worked 7pm - 7am every other year for 11 years (then every other year 7 am - 7 pm) and I really was able to handle it for a while. Both shifts had its benefits but because no one else was working nights when I was, my closest friends were my coworkers and we would go out in the morning after work and have a good time.

It's a good thing that the workforce was typically young and we did have a good time, but as the years went on, the night shift got more difficult. I blame it on getting older and less resilient. When I left the job, I was pregnant and vowed never to work nights again, and I haven't. It does affect your health, and it's really cut out for those who can handle it, which is the younger generation, IMO.

Thunderclap

Jeanwah wrote:

It's a good thing that the workforce was typically young and we did have a good time, but as the years went on, the night shift got more difficult. I blame it on getting older and less resilient. When I left the job, I was pregnant and vowed never to work nights again, and I haven't. It does affect your health, and it's really cut out for those who can handle it, which is the younger generation, IMO.

This is why if I'm ever forced to work midnights, I'd seriously consider putting in my 2-week notice. I have a hard enough time sleeping at night. If I were to be forced to sleep through the day I'd be screwed all around :x

Beck..

I worked a 12 hour nightshift for 4 years,and it messed up my eating habbits aswell as my sleep, and i went stick thin and everyone said i look like a smackhead,its not good.

South of Seattle

smile75 wrote:

I worked a 12 hour nightshift for 4 years,and it messed up my eating habbits aswell as my sleep, and i went stick thin and everyone said i look like a smackhead,its not good.

That's what I work. 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm 7 days in a row.

My sleep schedule is definitely wacked out sometimes. I can usually sleep from 8 am to 2-3 pm. I try to do everything like normal. Eat a breakfast type meal when I wake up, eat a couple of small meals while at work and then workout for an hour each night.

I like it because working at night is more money and less work.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

South of Seattle wrote:

smile75 wrote:

I worked a 12 hour nightshift for 4 years,and it messed up my eating habbits aswell as my sleep, and i went stick thin and everyone said i look like a smackhead,its not good.

That's what I work. 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm 7 days in a row.

My sleep schedule is definitely wacked out sometimes. I can usually sleep from 8 am to 2-3 pm. I try to do everything like normal. Eat a breakfast type meal when I wake up, eat a couple of small meals while at work and then workout for an hour each night.

I like it because working at night is more money and less work.

you work a half hour a day...

and you are bitching about it??????

hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.......................

i would love to work from 6:00pm to 6:30pm.....hehehehehehe

Wobbie

metsfan wrote:

see the great thing bout working the graveyard shift is you're able to drink beer at 6:30 am and eat chicken nuggets

...and you meet some fabulous people in the bars (at 6:30 am)!!!