question for those who work/worked graveyard shifts

[Yarg!]

i work graveyard shifts at a gas station from 11-7am wed/thurs/sun. its a good pt job to compliment school. anyways, i found out lately my sleep cycles are all messed up. on wednesday last week, i got home at 730, went to bed at 9am, woke up at 4pm, stayed up for like 1 hr then fell back asleep to 1030pm. then on monday i fell asleep at 630am, woke up at 10 am and was somewhat groggy. i was like 'ok ill starve my body of sleep, then at like 12pm ill sleep, wake up at 7am the next day and ill be back on track.

so i went running, gym, bjj, then wrestling practise on basically 3.5 hrs of sleep thinking itll exhaust me out. i slept at 12;20pm after like 8hrs combined of total strenous phyical activitiy, took me 1hr to fall asleep and woke up at 630am after 5 hours of sleep and im totally awake. ive been up since then and now its 1045 and i just got back from a run and im totally fine. usually anything less than 7hrs and im groggy. so wtf is going on with my body? has anyone been thru the same ordeals?

 

[jerkbox]

i got tired just reading that


i think i need a nap

 

[mwm5]

yes................it ended up messing with me so badly i would have a migraine constantly for days. i had enough and found something else.

 

[BNG]

I have worked rotating shift work off / on for something like 14 years. I set myself up to have certain things that trigger response. For me I don't eat when I come home in the am. I allways shower just before bed, I eat when I get up and then hit the gym before work. When I worked days I had to do the gym after work. So I eat when I get up, but usually a light meal or just protien before bed. The shower relaxed me and I can fall asleep easily after one even during the day.
What you eat and when also seems to have a huge effect on how your body reacts. There's a web site that specifically deals with shift workers prob's. In fact I think it was worknights.com or something close. Different things work for different people, if I could stay on nights for a long time I'd be better off. I can set up a routine that works for me even sleeping during the day. The short changes were harder for me than going nights to days after a long change.

 

[Y_lifter]

You will likely never have normal sleep cycles working 3rd shift bro..

All you can do is minimize the physical impact by getting as much sleep as you can
when you can. You always will have good days and bad. I would change my sleep times from when I got home to before I went in depending on what I needed or wanted to do in the daytime. Many times I nodded off asleep driving home in the AM. You've gotta learn to WILL yourself to go to sleep when needed, even though you may feel wired and awake.

Worse for you is you can't even have 5 straight days of a set sleep cycle like I did.
That's gotta be suckage..

 

[b0und]

I worked the graveyard shift (10pm-6am) when I was younger. It paid 115% of the standard rate.

A rip-off if ever there was one.

After the 4th straight night I would be too tired to even go to train. Friday night shifts would fuck up my whole weekend. It's just not worth it.


b0und (not ever doing that again)

 

[Whiskey]

I work midnights and DO NOT have a normal set time, sleep schedule.

Some day I go to bed as soon as I get home. Other days i'll stay up and do shit. It just depends what I need to get done that day.
That's the only think I like about midnights... that and it's cooler in the summer time. ;-)

Whiskey

 

[mountain muscle]

I do better with about 4-5 hours sleep on morning tour. You just have to adjust to the schedule and try to get into a pattern. Hot shower will help you go to sleep. I can keep that schedule up, 12 hours nights, 4-5 sleep per, for about 3 months then I just have a catch up day where I crash out.

 

[Y_lifter]

3rd shift is great for someone without a life that likes to sit at home
during their time off. It was when I was younger and fatter.

I always was struck with how strange it was driving somewhere at like
3 am to find something to eat. And in the Mid 80's there weren't as many
all night places to eat other than maybe Krystals, Waffle house or 7-11

LOL @ all the drunks in the drive thru at Krystals at 2:30, running over each other
and bitching/slurring at the drive thru speaker..

 

[Whiskey]

3rd shift is great for someone without a life that likes to sit at home
during their time off. It was when I was younger and fatter.

QUOTE]


I have to disagree, when you work nights, you have all day to get shit done. Wether it's yard work, go shopping, doctor visits, ect...

BUT, I also am not married and have kids. If I did i'd probably go to days or afternoons.

Whiskey

 

[Y_lifter]

I have to disagree, when you work nights, you have all day to get shit done. Wether it's yard work, go shopping, doctor visits, ect...
Whiskey

Think about it in relation to being young and having friends, hanging out, beach, etc..
You may have all day off on Tuesday, but all your bros are at work.
So you gotta hang with yourself.

And just when the party is getting started in the evening, DAMN it if you've gotta stop drinking and go into work..

 

[Whiskey]

Think about it in relation to being young and having friends, hanging out, beach, etc..
You may have all day off on Tuesday, but all your bros are at work.
So you gotta hang with yourself.

And just when the party is getting started in the evening, DAMN it if you've gotta stop drinking and go into work..

ya can't drink all the time mate... well you can, but you know what I mean.... also, reduces protein synthesis don't forget ;-)

Don't get me wrong, I agree that you can't party like you want, but it's a small price to pay for convienance. Any why you have weekends off.

Whiskey

 

[Yarg!]

Think about it in relation to being young and having friends, hanging out, beach, etc..
You may have all day off on Tuesday, but all your bros are at work.
So you gotta hang with yourself.

And just when the party is getting started in the evening, DAMN it if you've gotta stop drinking and go into work..

well i get friday/sat off so its alright. my shifts on sun start at 11pm so i can sleep in all day sunday.

 

[Y_lifter]

I had a rotating schedule where I would have off M-Tu then next month Wen-Th
then etc..

It sucked having off Mondays when others were working, other than fishing etc where it wasn't busy at the ramps / lake etc

 

[samoth]

I recently read something about how studying or working late (relative to normal sleeping time) can deplete dopamine, thus often leaving one wondering why they aren't tired. I don't know if this would relate to your situation, but it was quite interesting... I never thought of it in those terms before, and I can certainly relate to the late-night studying and not really feeling tired enough to sleep.

Regardless, your body can and will eventually adapt to your patterns of sleep and wake. Even an inconsistant sleeping pattern can be adapted by the body; how long, however, depends on your body's adaptability. Throughout the years, I've learned to simply listen to my body. Obviously, stimulants can help through the adaptation process if you don't respond negatively to them (crash, reliance, illegal, lol, etc.).

I'm sure there's plenty of research/studies done on people in the military WRT lack of sleep ("lack" in relation to the "normal" 8 hours or whatever they're purporting nowadays). From what I've read, people can go with considerably less sleep than the "norm", with varying hours and extended periods of wakedness with little to no loss in normal mental or physical ability.

 

[Yarg!]

i just woke up 2 hrs of sleep. the last time i slept was 15hrs ago. this blows...