Night shift: Yaa or Nah?

[TreeGuy]

Since I’ve retired from the tree business and joined Alberta’s petroleum businesses in a variety of capacities, I’ve been on night shift....for five years now.

Personally, I love it!

Quieter and less BS/politics on larger scopes of work.

It definitely takes a certain sort of character to thrive in the dark, and I’m one of them it seems.

Thoughts?


Tree


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[CaberTosser]

I wind up working odd hours being self-employed. Sometimes I'll start at normal hours, other times I'll start somewhat late to miss rush hour or due to working late the night before. Sometimes I'll start the day doing some admin work, but stuff such as materials orders and quotes I mostly do at night, and those I might stay up well into the am when I've got a head of steam going. I might be working late to repair something broken on an ASAP basis or because that's the time a client might be able to have their water off without affecting business functions. Heating calls know no boundaries but generally the phone doesn't ring during normal sleeping hours. I do resent when people text at curiously early hours for non-emergency reasons though; if you won't call someone at that time without good reason, don't text them then either. I would not at all like to work night shifts and though I tend to stay up late I don't want to stay up ALL night. Too much messing with your circadian rhythms isn't good for ones health in my estimation.

[Shekka]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I wind up working odd hours being self-employed. Sometimes I'll start at normal hours, other times I'll start somewhat late to miss rush hour or due to working late the night before. Sometimes I'll start the day doing some admin work, but stuff such as materials orders and quotes I mostly do at night, and those I might stay up well into the am when I've got a head of steam going. I might be working late to repair something broken on an ASAP basis or because that's the time a client might be able to have their water off without affecting business functions. Heating calls know no boundaries but generally the phone doesn't ring during normal sleeping hours. I do resent when people text at curiously early hours for non-emergency reasons though; if you won't call someone at that time without good reason, don't text them then either. I would not at all like to work night shifts and though I tend to stay up late I don't want to stay up ALL night. Too much messing with your circadian rhythms isn't good for ones health in my estimation.

X2

I always start my work portion of the day at 8am. But usually work well past 10pm. On the odd day I have normal hours I cherish those. I have done many a night shift as that is when I can take servers down, but I don’t love it for sure. I can do it, but I still have to work the day shift also else where, so personally. I prefer day over night..

[32-40win]

Always been inclined to be a late night person. Pretty much always worked jobs that involved shiftwork. Been on straight afternoons for about 9-10 yrs now. Traffic back & forth to work is generally better, don't have a lot of the krap to put up with, that goes with dayshift, pretty much left on my own to do what needs doing, make my own decisions.
It can be dead and boring, it can be a gong show. Never know what to expect from one minute to the next.

[last minute]

It definitely takes a certain sort of character to thrive in the dark, and I’m one of them it seems.

Thoughts?


Tree

Good for you i GUESS

[TomP]

Currently working graveyards right now. Don't mind it once the sleep schedule is sorted out. But we rotate every 2 weeks so it gets tiring. Nice and peaceful most of the time though as I work maintenance.

[schreyer]

Just got off night shift now. It can be ok at times. But it can also be a real pain when things trip at 4 in the morning and you’re fighting to stay awake to get the plant operating again.

[NCC]

I worked shift work in a gas plant for 7 or 8 years and didn't like nights. There are a number of studies documenting the ill effects of shift work. .

Only thieves and *****s work at night

[58thecat]

Watch a few movies, do your rounds, get a good sleep...meeeeeeeeeeh, beeeeeep, and then all hell breaks looooooooose

[mattthegorby]

Used to prefer nights to days. Somewhere in my late 30's this all changed and now it kills me. I am now 9 to 5.

Matt

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[Scottmisfits]

I work nights on and off depending on the job. I hate the family life side of it. Also the 7 days a week for 26 days straight, minimum 13 hour days got tiring. But I agree, the politics and the usual crap that comes with days goes away for the most part and it makes the job easier.

[Fisherpeak]

Rather than do 12 hours day and swing to 12 hours graveyard every 2 weeks , I stayed on graveyard for 4 years. Loved it, no bosses around and could go salmon fishing at 7:30 A.M everyday. Same for hunting.

[omega50]

Worked 4 on 4 off - 12 hour shifts switching between days and nights every week from 1978 to 1989. Because of the rotation ahead 1 day every week I might not get a weekend day off for a month-bothersome in the summer.

Only got difficult when we started having kids

[ETOWNCANUCK]

After 20+ years of mostly shift work, a lot of which has been on "Night Shift'
I am now looking to find something more 9 to 5 if that even exists any more.
The constant changing back and forth has sure taken its toll and I am about finished with it.

if 9 to 5 doesn't exist then a schedule with only one time during day light hours is what I want.

[Ronji]

I worked nights for the better part of 10 years, and hated every friggin one of them. I did it only when the kids were young to save money on day homes.
Sleep patterns were the ****s, social life minimal
Once the kids were older I quit nights and never looked back.

I know guys who worked them for 25 years, and for the life of me I cannot understand how they continue to do so.

I firmly believe that those 10 years I worked nights, have shortened my life.

[Ranch11]

The benefits of the wealth gained by working nights will NEVER trump the detrimental health effects of working them.

I worked nights and hated every single minute of it. ****ty sleep, no social life, missed the kids growing up before me.

Can't pay me enough to work em. Never will again.

[buckbrush]

Hate hate hate! Night shift at my job means working the day then the night then the day again, repeat if needed.

42 hrs was my record, no time to sleep in there. Then safety comes around a preaches about proper rest. Manager agrees until you ask for a cross shift.

Amazing how brain function changes after being awake for that long.

[silver]

Back when I was younger, shift work was part of the game and I was able to adjust to it. A few years ago I was on a job and worked days, got put on night shift and I lasted a week and gave my notice.

I've worked with guys that preferred night shift over days. They can have my share.

[Badgerbadger]

I've done rotating 12's for 20 yrs. Been on a project, working 4x10 days for the last year. I prefer my shift work. One can get stuff done on days off, rather than spending it fighting the rest of the 9-5 herd.

[Arty]

Nights are great, days are great. BUT NOT flip-flopping back and forth between the two. That's what really screws you up. Same with lots of international business travel.

It never ceases to amaze how many employers set up schedules which slam your body back and forth 12 hours all the time, but then try to give you a bandaid for it by recommending what kind of meals to cook or how to sleep on days off to lessen the impact.

A month of nights, then a month of days - perfect. I'd even swap out shifts with others to get 6 or 8 weeks of straight nights then a straight month of days.

[covey ridge]

When I was a young man, I could work any shift and I could sleep at any time of the day or night. I could work the graveyard shift and when done I could have a coffee and go home and sleep for a solid 8 hours.

After about 20 years of doing this I could hardly stay awake on the graveyard shift and all I could think about was going home where I planned to sleep forever. No such luck. After about an hour and a half I was wide awake and could not sleep. Back that night for the graveyard shift I was more exhausted than the night before and it seems when I finally got home I even got less sleep.

My sleep pattern never did recover after I retired and now I very seldom get more than a couple hour before waking.

Now I firmly believe that staying awake on a regular basis when it is dark or trying to sleep when it is light may screw one up to the point of never getting any good sleep. I believe we have been created and designed to sleep when dark it is dark and sleep more on shorter light days and less on longer light days in season. One problem that I am beginning to understand that we bring too much light into our lives.

Extending light into our hours may be good for business but I think it is really bad for health for most of us.

[Fish along]

Worked of and on over the years and I was never particular about night shift, though I would definitely say that it was easier, and not so many QC,or bosses,and way less BS..One good factor to consider if you work outside especially during the long hot summer,night shift then can be great relief.

[Badgerbadger]

Originally Posted by covey ridge

When I was a young man, I could work any shift and I could sleep at any time of the day or night. I could work the graveyard shift and when done I could have a coffee and go home and sleep for a solid 8 hours.

After about 20 years of doing this I could hardly stay awake on the graveyard shift and all I could think about was going home where I planned to sleep forever. No such luck. After about an hour and a half I was wide awake and could not sleep. Back that night for the graveyard shift I was more exhausted than the night before and it seems when I finally got home I even got less sleep.

My sleep pattern never did recover after I retired and now I very seldom get more than a couple hour before waking.

Now I firmly believe that staying awake on a regular basis when it is dark or trying to sleep when it is light may screw one up to the point of never getting any good sleep. I believe we have been created and designed to sleep when dark it is dark and sleep more on shorter light days and less on longer light days in season. One problem that I am beginning to understand that we bring too much light into our lives.

Extending light into our hours may be good for business but I think it is really bad for health for most of us.

I hear you. My sleep patterns are a mess, but I go with it.

Best way I've found to get back to sleep is to imagine the alarm's about to go off (I'm not even kidding). And when I'm on night shift and have to sleep during the day, I'll be up for a bit but immediately crawl back into the still warm sack the second I think about sleep. But that's me. It works for me and I don't claim it'll work for other people.

[Albertadiver]

NOPE! I need all the beauty sleep I can get.

[Sigg]

There's a big difference between staying up late and working true shift work. The change overs from nights to days just kill me. Thirteen years into it and I'm done with it. A guy can only take so many stretches where you get 4 or 5 hours of sleep in 4 days cause you are still wide awake at 3AM and need to be up at 5. It takes me at least 3 days to switch back to days coming off nights. Basically it can ruin your whole set of days off.

[ROA]

Shift work has permanently damaged my body. I must take medication for the rest of my life to keep my metabolism working.

[thumper]

I've had staff that used their hotel, front desk, night shifts to do entire correspondence courses, art, tie flies, or read classics. Some have spent hours with insomniac hotel guests from around the world, listening to their life stories and gaining another kind of education while making friends and contacts to visit around the globe. Others spend their entire nights (outside of required duties) doing nothing but watch trash movies.

It is what you make of it!

[Hydrant]

As someone who has worked shift work for 12 years I can say with 100% accuracy that night shift will put you in an early grave! I regularly work shutdowns for 2 to 3 weeks of 12 hour nights and my regular, full time gig is 2 days then 2 - 14 hour nights. When I started I remember feeling fine and as time goes by, the longer you do nights the harder thay hit you. I also blame my unusual sleep patterns, amd restless sleeps on the nights effects on my sleep rhythms. All that said boy do I agree with the original posters comments on being able to get **** done better on nights. Less politics, No waiting for the crane, no engineer getting in the way, or safety tart holding up the process asking for your paperwork!

[1899b]

Originally Posted by ROA

Shift work has permanently damaged my body. I must take medication for the rest of my life to keep my metabolism working.

There are many studies about what working nights does to the metabolism and no matter how many years a person does them, the body never adjusts properly.

[shooter12]

What I found with a night shifts is ,its very important to keep your routine ...
Say, if you use to drink couple of shoots before going to bed , all you have to do is to start early... around 7.00 AM and it must be hard liquor ,usually vodka or something that does not have too much smell, moon shine will do as well..
Then you can sleep like a baby and even might like nights as it usually less *******s to deal with ...All of them are sleeping by then..
Make it short
f..k it
Its not good for your health