Night Shift Workers?

[Turvey]

Any night shift workers out there?

Our 18 year old son has just started his first job, night shift shelf filling at Tesco, and he's struggling a bit.

He works 4x9 hour shifts starting at 11pm Thursday to Sunday. There's 6 of us in the house, 3 of us work 'normal' hours and the other 2 can have 5/6am starts or 11pm finishes, lots of coming and going etc

He sleeps with his door and window closed to keep the noise down but his room gets hot and stuffy.

He also struggles to get his body clock in some kind of acceptable rhythm ie does he go to bed as soon as he gets home or wait a few hours, what's best for his days off?

Any hints or tips to pass on? Earplugs, portable air-con etc etc

[Luke4efc]

Not alternating onto days every other week makes it tough to adjust on your rest days.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to fall asleep 5 seconds after my head hits the pillow, and end up in such a deep sleep that even a blitzkrieg outside my house would struggle to wake me up 😂.

Sometimes I do struggle though, one thing that can help is basically tiring yourself out so much that all you want to do is sleep, a bit like a dog that's spent the whole day playing fetch. A few pints also helps, but that's a slippery slope if you ask me.

Im not always on shifts, but when I am I have a very strange shift pattern so I won't bother trying to explain it, but basically whenever I work 3 night shifts, I always have at least 3 rest days before starting days again.

It's always 7am/pm to 7pm/am. Whenever I finish a night shift I sleep straight away till around 12-1pm. I know when I was 18, this was the normal time for me to wake up on the weekend after a night out, so didn't feel too different for me. I'll sometimes have a little 'siesta' around tea time for an hour or so, but I'm not always tired enough.

Earplugs can be good, but they do take a bit of getting used to. I used disposable ones when I dealt with a snoring companion and it was definitely weird trying to sleep whilst listening to my lungs and heart beat.

Shifts is one of them where everyone finds their own little way of managing them. 

Wow that was a lengthy post sorry 😂

[Turvey]

@Luke4efc many thanks for the reply. 

He's home by 8.30 and has something to eat, kicks about the house for a couple of hours, has something else to eat and goes to bed about 11 or 12 and gets up again around 6. When he comes home he wants to speak and tell us about his day/night and seems to need that to help him unwind.

On his days off he spends most of it sleeping trying to catch up. 

Like you say, he'll just have to find a way that suits him. 

[Luke4efc]

9 hours ago, Turvey said:

He's home by 8.30 and has something to eat, kicks about the house for a couple of hours, has something else to eat and goes to bed about 11 or 12 and gets up again around 6. When he comes home he wants to speak and tell us about his day/night and seems to need that to help him unwind.

I'd maybe just ask him to try going to bed pretty much as soon as he gets in and has something to eat, and maybe wake up at 2 or 3 in afternoon if he can. Even if its just for one time, nothing to lose. He's then got most of the afternoon/evening free like a day worker would. You also avoid that mid-day period when everything can be hot and stuffy.

It depends how the rest of the family works. All mine work 9-5 ish, so I sleep in the morning/early afternoon when nobody is here or they're just lounging around the house.

[Mark-UK]

It does take a little time to get in a rhythm for nights, and each person seems to find there own. Personally I was in the camp that says, you don't go to bed as soon as you get home on days so why on night. So come home stay up for 5 hours or so, then get up at 10pm have your "breakfast" and go to work, I know other that do the exact opposite., I was lucky in living alone so noise from the family not a issue, but can see in a large household it being a major problem

Everyone I know who's worked permanent  nights say getting use to can take a while, and then everything is fine until you hit the brickwall and have to stop, not next year, not next month, but now this week, some can do nights for decades others just months.

[TomsFocus]

My Dad worked nights for about 15 years and had no trouble sleeping after the initial adjustment.  He preferred it to days after a bit.

On the other hand, I barely made it through an evening shift...despite doing an evening course at college 3 days a week and an evening shift at a supermarket on the other days at that time.  Did it for almost 12 months and never did adjust!  Always wondered why...clearly it's not a hereditary thing. 

[jace1969]

I did work night shift a few years ago and its very hard to get use of,i worked from 10pm till 8am then day staff took over,it was a top health and fitness club with hotel on it and night cleaners so i did about 4 or so jobs,i did Monday till Friday so 50 hour week staff paid (year amount) which did have its own problems with the overtime side.

The 2 things that hit me was getting sorted to start at 10 as i just wanted to relax and watch tv etc but when i got there i seem to wake up that bit more.

Also sleeping when i got back as you felt awake still but a nice hot drink like oveltine and a nice shower then a nice dark room, alwayed helped me but i have to say it does give your body clock some problems but i did like it as being a health and fitness club and a top one i had loads of friends and seen a lot of well knowen people.

All the best and hope he gets settled in.

 

 

 

[BigLen]

On 8/13/2021 at 8:52 PM, Turvey said:

Any night shift workers out there?

Our 18 year old son has just started his first job, night shift shelf filling at Tesco, and he's struggling a bit.

He works 4x9 hour shifts starting at 11pm Thursday to Sunday. There's 6 of us in the house, 3 of us work 'normal' hours and the other 2 can have 5/6am starts or 11pm finishes, lots of coming and going etc

He sleeps with his door and window closed to keep the noise down but his room gets hot and stuffy.

He also struggles to get his body clock in some kind of acceptable rhythm ie does he go to bed as soon as he gets home or wait a few hours, what's best for his days off?

Any hints or tips to pass on? Earplugs, portable air-con etc etc

 

Hi Turvey, 

I'm just seeing this thread now; 

i work Continental shift, so every third week im in 23:00-07:00 for five nights mon-fri 

I've three kids and wife in the house all summer long, 

ear plugs don't work as they tend to draw your attention more towards resonating noises,  

some good blinds which block out the light are essential, a small radio with talk show type of tone helps more than earplugs as you will become used to a steady level of low noises, where then you wont be woken by a door being closed in the house or something being dropped, 

personally I try to stay awake for as long as possible when I come home, I then get something high calorie to eat and go to bed around 11am or 12 noon, I then try to sleep until 21:00 then up shower and out the door, 

its very important not to plan anything for those days which your working nights, don't carry many thoughts or plans as they will really impact your sleep and keep off social media as it will also keep you awake,

night shift does get easier in the winter and also in the rain, easier to sleep, 

sometimes i cant get sleeping here at all though, so I drive out to the carpark of the fuel station on the motorway close to home and sleep in the focus, it has tinted windows and works well, but really is a last resort, 

and try keep away from RedBull or monster, end up addicted to them, better with orange juice or smoothies, yogurts are great for nights, easier to digest and sleep easier, 

nights also get harder as you get older, I'm 37 now and find it more difficult than it was 17 years ago, 

[zain611]

Will have to keep this thread on mind as I may need to start doing Nightshifts in the hospital

[Turvey]

Thanks all for the contributions and apologies for the late reply.

His shift has been changed to 10-7 which seems to suit him a wee bit better. He's still struggling to actually sleep during the day and sometimes just manages a few hours kip, not ideal but he's young 😀

As mentioned I think it will take him a wee while to get into the swing of things but I've no doubt he'll get there. He's absolutely full of the cold just now so that's not helping 🙄 masks and runny nose? 

[BigLen]

9 minutes ago, Turvey said:

Thanks all for the contributions and apologies for the late reply.

His shift has been changed to 10-7 which seems to suit him a wee bit better. He's still struggling to actually sleep during the day and sometimes just manages a few hours kip, not ideal but he's young 😀

As mentioned I think it will take him a wee while to get into the swing of things but I've no doubt he'll get there. He's absolutely full of the cold just now so that's not helping 🙄 masks and runny nose? 

Same situation myself at the moment; head-cold since Monday, taking lemsip tablets which are helping the nose, luckily I take lunch breaks in the car and mostly work alone on site though; so I don't need the mask on all the time.

[Turvey]

Just now, BigLen said:

Same situation myself at the moment; head-cold since Monday, taking lemsip tablets which are helping the nose, luckily I take lunch breaks in the car and mostly work alone on site though; so I don't need the mask on all the time.

It really can't be nice 😔 I'm not a fan of masks but wear one when required but having to wear one all day AND with a streaming nose can't be fun.

[TomsFocus]

Colds in September...it's literally been 28c here today! 🥵

[BigLen]

14 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Colds in September...it's literally been 28c here today! 🥵

Few cold mornings there last week maybe triggered it, my mother came to visit last week and had running nose, then one of my daughter's followed by myself and now other daughter; also one guy in work seems to have it more than any of us, but I'm not sure if he's taking anything for it as he's an anti-vaxer that loves Monster energy drinks 😅 and will tell you how he won't put chemicals in his body while drinking a can of unregulated Monster energy drink, on a lunch break from manufacturing two parts of the covid19 vaccine, 🤔 yeah

[zain611]

On 9/8/2021 at 7:38 PM, Turvey said:

It really can't be nice 😔 I'm not a fan of masks but wear one when required but having to wear one all day AND with a streaming nose can't be fun.

Oh can so relate with this. Got hayfever a few days back on my shift and had to constantly go to the toilet to drain my nose out in the sink