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night schedule sleeping - when

Posted: Apr 18, 2010

Just started a new job (this will be my second full week) and I am working Sun-Thurs 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. I actually have work all night and no NJA screen popping up. My problem is I start to fad about 4 hours in and hard to stay awake. Anyone working this shift or 11-7 or whatever, when did you sleep? I go right to be at 6 a.m. and can sleep about 6 hours (that is about all I slept when I worked the day shift and had no problem). I have tried taking a nap before I start and then I wake up tired from that and I am no good at all.

Any advice as far as the sleeping pattern I need to get into? How long does it take to get used to? This is the first time I have ever worked this schedule, but I did it only because I could actually get work on this shift. After 36 years in this profession I guess I am too old for this.

Night shift - This seemed to work

[ In Reply To ..]
My ex used to work rotating shifts, different shift every week. When he came home from night shift he tried to stay up until around 12 and then slept until 7 or 8 p.m. You might try not going to bed as soon as you get off your shift.

I work a night shift - pj

[ In Reply To ..]
I work from 1-9 a.m. I tried sleeping after I was done with my shift and could not make it through my shifts without taking a break for a nap. Then I tried splitting my sleeping to 4 hours before shift and 4 hours after shift and that didn't work at all. Now I sleep 7 hours prior to my shift, with my alarm set to go off a half hour before I begin working, so that I am not too sleepy when I start working. I then use that half hour to get some caffeine, take my morning medications, set the temperature to a comfortable level and get the computer booted up. I have been on this schedule for 4 months and this has really worked well for me. Then, if I feel that I need a nap sometime during the late morning/early afternoon hours, I go ahead and take the nap, but I limit it to 1 hour at the most, otherwise you don't feel like sleeping when it is time to actually go to bed.

That's what works for me. If I did not have time to get in my full 7 hours of sleep before work (which will occasionally happen), I will get as much sleep as I can prior to the shift and then take a half hour break in the middle of my shift and take a nap and then work the half hour extra at the end of my shift. That seems to refresh me enough to be able to continue through the rest of the shift, but I still limit myself to only 1 hour nap later in the morning/early afternoon and then try to get my 7 hours for the next night and get back on track.

I also leave some of my "get ready for the day" chores to do during my shift, so I can walk away from the job briefly and that helps to wake me up. For instance, instead of washing my face when I first get up in the morning, I will wait until I first start to get sleepy, then I will wash my face. I will also stay in my jammies until the next time I get sleepy, and then I will get up from my desk and go get dressed for the day. When I start to get sleepy again, I will take the day's mail out to the mailbox, etc. All things that take less than 3-5 minutes to accomplish but wake me up significantly, so I can go on for a few more hours.

I hope this information is helpful to you. It is difficult to get into the swing of things, but you just have to experiment until you find what works for you.

try doing a complete reverse schedule - pghpa

[ In Reply To ..]
I agree with the above poster. What works for me is to completely reverse my schedule - sleep 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Get up at 7:30, shower, eat, etc. and be ready to go by 9 p.m. I used to sleep from about 11:30 p,m, to 7 a.m.

Think of everything as being completely reversed - lunch at 1 a.m. instead of 1 p.m.

Hope this helps.

Night shift question - Alice

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you reverse your schedule seven days a week? In other words, if you have a day off, do you do anything different with your schedule from those days or nights when you are working?

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