How to deal best with a week of night-shifts?
August 13, 2013 12:09 PM Subscribe
Next week I will be working 1am to 7am on Tue, Wed, Thur and Fri. When should I sleep? When should I eat? Should I just stay up all night on the first night?
I normally sleep between 10:30pm and 6:30am so I will be working for most of the time I would normally be asleep. I'm not sure whether it's best to try and go to sleep in the afternoon and then wake up at midnight or if I should go to sleep when I get off work and get up in the late afternoon. After this week I'll be going back to 9-5 for a month or so and then I'll have to do the week of night-shifts again.
I'm generally awful when I haven't had a good night's sleep!
(I've seen other questions about night-shifts but they are generally from the perspective of people who are doing it long-term and so can get into some kind of pattern with it)
I normally sleep between 10:30pm and 6:30am so I will be working for most of the time I would normally be asleep. I'm not sure whether it's best to try and go to sleep in the afternoon and then wake up at midnight or if I should go to sleep when I get off work and get up in the late afternoon. After this week I'll be going back to 9-5 for a month or so and then I'll have to do the week of night-shifts again.
I'm generally awful when I haven't had a good night's sleep!
(I've seen other questions about night-shifts but they are generally from the perspective of people who are doing it long-term and so can get into some kind of pattern with it)
If it were me, I'd take a sleep aid Monday afternoon and get as close to a full night's sleep as possible before going to work. Obviously, don't do this if you don't know how sleep aids are going to affect you. But I've done this kind of thing when I need to yank my sleep schedule around and while the first day is kind of tough, by day 2 I'm pretty much adjusted.
It's quite nice to be able to run errands and such during the day while the rest of the world is at work and everything is uncrowded, so I'd probably stay up after work and then go to sleep in the afternoon. You'll lose socializing time in the evening, but it's only for a week.
posted by bac at 12:27 PM on August 13, 2013
It's quite nice to be able to run errands and such during the day while the rest of the world is at work and everything is uncrowded, so I'd probably stay up after work and then go to sleep in the afternoon. You'll lose socializing time in the evening, but it's only for a week.
posted by bac at 12:27 PM on August 13, 2013
my wife worked exclusively nights for the past 3 years. 12 hour shifts as a nurse, and she ain't killed anyone yet!
she would stay up until around 5am the night before (when it's still dark), and sleep as much during the day as possible: the basic assumption is that there's no way you'll completely reset yourself, so just get yourself approximately reset.
as long as you don't need to operate heavy machinery or solve theorems, you should be fine.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:55 PM on August 13, 2013
she would stay up until around 5am the night before (when it's still dark), and sleep as much during the day as possible: the basic assumption is that there's no way you'll completely reset yourself, so just get yourself approximately reset.
as long as you don't need to operate heavy machinery or solve theorems, you should be fine.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:55 PM on August 13, 2013
I'm generally awful when I haven't had a good night's sleep!
This is generally going to be awful, then; I'm pretty flexible as far as sleep schedule goes but switching back and forth like this would be murder. In your situation the first thing I'd do is try to talk my doctor into giving me an ambien prescription to help me through the transition periods, but even failing that do try to get some sleep before your first night shift rather than just pulling an all-nighter; even if you don't literally sleep just resting in a darkened room will be much better than nothing.
I'm not sure whether it's best to try and go to sleep in the afternoon and then wake up at midnight or if I should go to sleep when I get off work and get up in the late afternoon
When I worked nights I found it much better to sleep in the afternoons and then wake up and go straight to work. It's a lot more draining to go in to work after you've been up for hours already. Also, especially in winter, sleeping after work and waking up in mid afternoon meant that I would never see sunlight at all.
posted by ook at 1:06 PM on August 13, 2013
This is generally going to be awful, then; I'm pretty flexible as far as sleep schedule goes but switching back and forth like this would be murder. In your situation the first thing I'd do is try to talk my doctor into giving me an ambien prescription to help me through the transition periods, but even failing that do try to get some sleep before your first night shift rather than just pulling an all-nighter; even if you don't literally sleep just resting in a darkened room will be much better than nothing.
I'm not sure whether it's best to try and go to sleep in the afternoon and then wake up at midnight or if I should go to sleep when I get off work and get up in the late afternoon
When I worked nights I found it much better to sleep in the afternoons and then wake up and go straight to work. It's a lot more draining to go in to work after you've been up for hours already. Also, especially in winter, sleeping after work and waking up in mid afternoon meant that I would never see sunlight at all.
posted by ook at 1:06 PM on August 13, 2013
I worked nights for a long time, I actually prefer it, though my currenty job only offers day shifts.
Anyway I recommend pretty much what everyone else is saying, stay up way late so that you're going to sleep in the morning beforehand. You want to be waking up no more than a couple hours before your shift starts, just like most people would do for a day job.
Eat breakfast beforehand if you normally eat breakfast. Then eat lunch after 4 hours or so - however long you'd wait to eat lunch on a normal shift. Then go home, eat dinner after a couple hours and stay up until it's about 8 hours until you've got to get up again.
Assuming you're going to have to adjust back to a day shift again after this, do make sure they give you some time in between to adjust back. Take a vacation/personal day if you have to (if you have one available I mean), though a weekend should be enough.
Night shifts are fine if you're on them all the time, but swing shifts where you go back and forth from days to nights just suck in my option. Hopefully you won't have to switch around all the time.
posted by NoAccount at 1:09 PM on August 13, 2013
Anyway I recommend pretty much what everyone else is saying, stay up way late so that you're going to sleep in the morning beforehand. You want to be waking up no more than a couple hours before your shift starts, just like most people would do for a day job.
Eat breakfast beforehand if you normally eat breakfast. Then eat lunch after 4 hours or so - however long you'd wait to eat lunch on a normal shift. Then go home, eat dinner after a couple hours and stay up until it's about 8 hours until you've got to get up again.
Assuming you're going to have to adjust back to a day shift again after this, do make sure they give you some time in between to adjust back. Take a vacation/personal day if you have to (if you have one available I mean), though a weekend should be enough.
Night shifts are fine if you're on them all the time, but swing shifts where you go back and forth from days to nights just suck in my option. Hopefully you won't have to switch around all the time.
posted by NoAccount at 1:09 PM on August 13, 2013
I work three 12 hour night shifts a week (and have for the past few years) and I still don't have a perfect solution, but this is what I'd recommend.
If you are able to fall asleep/sleep in whenever, then I would recommend that you just sleep in a little bit on Tuesday and then take a nap before work. I work from 7pm-7am so I really just sleep in on my first day back and don't take a nap before work, but going in a 1am might be tough. When you get off work you'll probably want to go straight to bed, and then just sleep as late as you can and you should be good for that night! If you're able to get a full 8 hours or so and sleep until 4-5ish that will be perfect, but if you aren't able to do that then you might just need to take another nap before work.
As far as eating, with that schedule I would eat breakfast when you get off work (if you don't you'll wake up starving), eat dinner or lunch and dinner before work, and bring a healthy snack and plenty of water for your shift. You might also need some caffeine :)
Then when your week is up and you need to go back to a day shift schedule, you should just get a few hours of sleep after work and then make yourself wake up so that you can get to bed at your normal time that night. Good luck!
posted by kerri13 at 1:57 PM on August 13, 2013
If you are able to fall asleep/sleep in whenever, then I would recommend that you just sleep in a little bit on Tuesday and then take a nap before work. I work from 7pm-7am so I really just sleep in on my first day back and don't take a nap before work, but going in a 1am might be tough. When you get off work you'll probably want to go straight to bed, and then just sleep as late as you can and you should be good for that night! If you're able to get a full 8 hours or so and sleep until 4-5ish that will be perfect, but if you aren't able to do that then you might just need to take another nap before work.
As far as eating, with that schedule I would eat breakfast when you get off work (if you don't you'll wake up starving), eat dinner or lunch and dinner before work, and bring a healthy snack and plenty of water for your shift. You might also need some caffeine :)
Then when your week is up and you need to go back to a day shift schedule, you should just get a few hours of sleep after work and then make yourself wake up so that you can get to bed at your normal time that night. Good luck!
posted by kerri13 at 1:57 PM on August 13, 2013
I know some folks who take melatonin to gently help them sleep off schedule.
posted by pizzazz at 1:58 PM on August 13, 2013
posted by pizzazz at 1:58 PM on August 13, 2013
I work night shift regularly (three 12 hour shifts from 7p to 7a). Do you have to work Sunday and/or Monday? If not, this is what I would do:
1. Get up late Sunday morning. Stay up until 2-3am-ish Sunday night.
2. Stay up until 4am-ish Monday night. Sleep as late as possible.
3. Take a nap late Monday, but not too late - otherwise getting back up will be nightmarish. Nap from 5-6 or 7. Do not nap once it gets dark. Once you're up, go about your evening like you would a normal day until work (errands, puttering around the house, hobbies, etc.).
You'll probably be so tired Tuesday morning that falling asleep won't be an issue that day or the next.
As far as eating, I'd eat several smaller meals 4 or so hours apart. So on Monday, eat when you first wake up (ideally early afternoon). Eat a little snack after you nap. Eat before you go to work. Have another snack or light meal around 4 or 5 am. Eat a bedtime snack before you go to sleep around 9am. When I say snacks, I really mean it, too - like 150-200 calories or less.
posted by pecanpies at 2:26 PM on August 13, 2013
1. Get up late Sunday morning. Stay up until 2-3am-ish Sunday night.
2. Stay up until 4am-ish Monday night. Sleep as late as possible.
3. Take a nap late Monday, but not too late - otherwise getting back up will be nightmarish. Nap from 5-6 or 7. Do not nap once it gets dark. Once you're up, go about your evening like you would a normal day until work (errands, puttering around the house, hobbies, etc.).
You'll probably be so tired Tuesday morning that falling asleep won't be an issue that day or the next.
As far as eating, I'd eat several smaller meals 4 or so hours apart. So on Monday, eat when you first wake up (ideally early afternoon). Eat a little snack after you nap. Eat before you go to work. Have another snack or light meal around 4 or 5 am. Eat a bedtime snack before you go to sleep around 9am. When I say snacks, I really mean it, too - like 150-200 calories or less.
posted by pecanpies at 2:26 PM on August 13, 2013
I used to work night shifts as a nurse and I experimented with a ton of different ways to make it more bearable. No matter what, though, it was HARD, and it wasn't until I started consistently working during the day and sleeping at night that I realized how sleep-deprived I really was all the time.
The thing that worked the best for me was to work all my shifts for the week in a row, so there was never an orphan day in between where I was awake all night but not at work. It looks like you've got that covered.
On day 1, I would wake up at a normal time (for me, about 10:00 am), have normal day (some kind of physical exercise was essential), go to work, and just power through the first night. If you're a napper, taking a nap that afternoon makes that first night much easier; I am not a napper and found that laying in bed trying to nap was more stressful than staying awake.
At the end of the first shift, technically the morning of day 2, I would go straight home and go immediately to bed, sleeping from about 8:30am - 4:30pm. I'd return to work for the second shift that day, work all night, and on the morning of day 3 I'd do the same--home, straight to bed, sleep all day, back to work overnight. The morning after that third shift was over, day 4, I'd go home and go straight to bed as usual, but only sleep for four or so hours that day and then force myself to get up and moving during the afternoon. I'd go to bed at a normal hour that night, and reset myself for day hours for the rest of the non-work days of the week.
This was obviously unsustainable in the long term--I was basically missing a full night and a half of sleep each week--but I found that if I stayed on a night schedule permanently, I became very depressed by the isolation and lack of natural light and the general weirdness of doing normal activities like laundry or grocery shopping at four in the morning. Going back to daylight hours on my days off kept me sane. This will be less of a worry for you because it sounds like you only have to do this for a week, but don't be surprised if you feel a little glum by the end of the week.
There was no way I could go home after a whole night awake at work and stay awake until the afternoon; I tried it once and was nauseated and shaky with exhaustion. And by the time I'd gotten all that natural morning light, I found it hard to go to sleep in the afternoon no matter how deliriously tired I was.
posted by jesourie at 3:07 PM on August 13, 2013
The thing that worked the best for me was to work all my shifts for the week in a row, so there was never an orphan day in between where I was awake all night but not at work. It looks like you've got that covered.
On day 1, I would wake up at a normal time (for me, about 10:00 am), have normal day (some kind of physical exercise was essential), go to work, and just power through the first night. If you're a napper, taking a nap that afternoon makes that first night much easier; I am not a napper and found that laying in bed trying to nap was more stressful than staying awake.
At the end of the first shift, technically the morning of day 2, I would go straight home and go immediately to bed, sleeping from about 8:30am - 4:30pm. I'd return to work for the second shift that day, work all night, and on the morning of day 3 I'd do the same--home, straight to bed, sleep all day, back to work overnight. The morning after that third shift was over, day 4, I'd go home and go straight to bed as usual, but only sleep for four or so hours that day and then force myself to get up and moving during the afternoon. I'd go to bed at a normal hour that night, and reset myself for day hours for the rest of the non-work days of the week.
This was obviously unsustainable in the long term--I was basically missing a full night and a half of sleep each week--but I found that if I stayed on a night schedule permanently, I became very depressed by the isolation and lack of natural light and the general weirdness of doing normal activities like laundry or grocery shopping at four in the morning. Going back to daylight hours on my days off kept me sane. This will be less of a worry for you because it sounds like you only have to do this for a week, but don't be surprised if you feel a little glum by the end of the week.
There was no way I could go home after a whole night awake at work and stay awake until the afternoon; I tried it once and was nauseated and shaky with exhaustion. And by the time I'd gotten all that natural morning light, I found it hard to go to sleep in the afternoon no matter how deliriously tired I was.
posted by jesourie at 3:07 PM on August 13, 2013
pecanpies is right about the snacks or small meals. Your body is going to have to absorb some nutrients at a time it's accustomed to thinking is the middle of the night. You cannot get through that entire shift without eating, but if you break around 4 and eat all at once what you'd normally eat for lunch, you will not feel great – your digestion will raise an eyebrow at you for sure.
Eat high-protein snacks, avoid high carbs. This is no time to risk a carb crash. Stay hydrated. If you do caffeine, be circumspect and taper it off toward morning. Black coffee is better than sugary sodas for this purpose.
posted by zadcat at 4:54 PM on August 13, 2013
Eat high-protein snacks, avoid high carbs. This is no time to risk a carb crash. Stay hydrated. If you do caffeine, be circumspect and taper it off toward morning. Black coffee is better than sugary sodas for this purpose.
posted by zadcat at 4:54 PM on August 13, 2013
I used to do a lot of short term switching from days to nights and back. Pop a couple Benny's (that's Benadryl) the day before the night you're going to work. Tape aluminum foil over all windows. Lay in bed and stare at the ceiling as long as it takes to drift off. Set a couple alarms.
Nthing lots of snacks... I tend to eat either very little ( my body isn't thinking in terms of lunch and dinner ) or snack nonstop ( to stave off the boredom and tiredness). Since this is a short term for you, I wholeheartedly advocate sugary junk food and lots of caffeine. The best part of this schedule is obviously breakfast for dinner at your greasy diner of choice.
If I were you I would plan to sleep 4pm - midnight and maintain a normal first half of the day... Others might go the other way and sleep 8am - 4 pm and wake up for dinner with family or friends, but then you have to contend with a couple hours of quiet time before work and the temptation to nap/sleep will be great.
Good luck!
posted by ista at 5:48 PM on August 13, 2013
Nthing lots of snacks... I tend to eat either very little ( my body isn't thinking in terms of lunch and dinner ) or snack nonstop ( to stave off the boredom and tiredness). Since this is a short term for you, I wholeheartedly advocate sugary junk food and lots of caffeine. The best part of this schedule is obviously breakfast for dinner at your greasy diner of choice.
If I were you I would plan to sleep 4pm - midnight and maintain a normal first half of the day... Others might go the other way and sleep 8am - 4 pm and wake up for dinner with family or friends, but then you have to contend with a couple hours of quiet time before work and the temptation to nap/sleep will be great.
Good luck!
posted by ista at 5:48 PM on August 13, 2013
I worked a job where I would frequently have to work 7 am to 3 pm, 3 pm to 11 pm, and 11 pm to 7 pm shifts, often all in the same week.
I much preferred sleeping right after getting off work when I worked graveyard shifts. If you're used to working afternoon shifts anyway it's not that big of a deal.
Someone upthread mentioned just going to bed around 5 am the morning of your night shift. I think that's a great idea. You'll sleep until one or two maybe, and then you'll be alright until at least 7 the next morning.
posted by Precision at 8:02 PM on August 13, 2013
I much preferred sleeping right after getting off work when I worked graveyard shifts. If you're used to working afternoon shifts anyway it's not that big of a deal.
Someone upthread mentioned just going to bed around 5 am the morning of your night shift. I think that's a great idea. You'll sleep until one or two maybe, and then you'll be alright until at least 7 the next morning.
posted by Precision at 8:02 PM on August 13, 2013
If you were going to be starting work in the evening, I would agree with everyone upthread, however, your work doesn't start until 1am, so I am going to suggest a different strategy.
Research has shown that if you can keep a 4 hour "anchor sleep" period during the same timeframe every day, you'll do better than if you shift your sleep to different times of the day.
Here is the relevant text from the link:
"...interesting features of a short “anchor sleep” have been reported (Minors and Waterhouse 1981; Kogi 1982; Matsumoto and Harada 1994). When part of the customary daily sleep is taken during the normal night sleep period and the rest at irregular times, the circadian rhythms of rectal temperature and urinary secretion of several electrolytes can retain a 24-hour period. This means that a short night-time sleep taken during the night sleep period can help preserve the original circadian rhythms in subsequent periods.
We may assume that sleeps taken at different periods of the day could have certain complementary effects in view of the different recovery functions of these sleeps. An interesting approach for night-shift workers is the use of a night-time nap which usually lasts up to a few hours. Surveys show this short sleep taken during a night shift is common among some groups of workers. This anchor-sleep type sleep is effective in reducing night work fatigue (Kogi 1982) and may reduce the need of recovery sleep. Figure 29.34 compares the subjective feelings of fatigue during two consecutive night shifts and the off-duty recovery period between the nap-taking group and the non-nap group (Matsumoto and Harada 1994). The positive effects of a night-time nap in reducing fatigue was obvious. These effects continued for a large part of the recovery period following night work. Between these two groups, no significant difference was found upon comparing the length of the day sleep of the non-nap group with the total sleeping time (night-time nap plus subsequent day sleep) of the nap group. Therefore a night-time nap enables part of the essential sleep to be taken in advance of the day sleep following night work. It can therefore be suggested that naps taken during night work can to a certain extent aid recovery from the fatigue caused by that work and accompanying sleep deprivation (Sakai et al. 1984; Saito and Matsumoto 1988)."
This research suggests that rather than stay up late, what you should actually do is go to bed early in preparation for your night work and sleep from 8pm-midnight at least, then go in for the shift.
That being said, I am a shift worker and a night owl and I have found the anchor sleep concept very difficult to implement because of my night owl nature. I am simply not tired in the evening, regardless of how sleep deprived I am overall, unless I'm literally crashing. However, it sounds like you might be more able to use this idea, if you can handle the early to bed part.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:31 PM on August 13, 2013
Research has shown that if you can keep a 4 hour "anchor sleep" period during the same timeframe every day, you'll do better than if you shift your sleep to different times of the day.
Here is the relevant text from the link:
"...interesting features of a short “anchor sleep” have been reported (Minors and Waterhouse 1981; Kogi 1982; Matsumoto and Harada 1994). When part of the customary daily sleep is taken during the normal night sleep period and the rest at irregular times, the circadian rhythms of rectal temperature and urinary secretion of several electrolytes can retain a 24-hour period. This means that a short night-time sleep taken during the night sleep period can help preserve the original circadian rhythms in subsequent periods.
We may assume that sleeps taken at different periods of the day could have certain complementary effects in view of the different recovery functions of these sleeps. An interesting approach for night-shift workers is the use of a night-time nap which usually lasts up to a few hours. Surveys show this short sleep taken during a night shift is common among some groups of workers. This anchor-sleep type sleep is effective in reducing night work fatigue (Kogi 1982) and may reduce the need of recovery sleep. Figure 29.34 compares the subjective feelings of fatigue during two consecutive night shifts and the off-duty recovery period between the nap-taking group and the non-nap group (Matsumoto and Harada 1994). The positive effects of a night-time nap in reducing fatigue was obvious. These effects continued for a large part of the recovery period following night work. Between these two groups, no significant difference was found upon comparing the length of the day sleep of the non-nap group with the total sleeping time (night-time nap plus subsequent day sleep) of the nap group. Therefore a night-time nap enables part of the essential sleep to be taken in advance of the day sleep following night work. It can therefore be suggested that naps taken during night work can to a certain extent aid recovery from the fatigue caused by that work and accompanying sleep deprivation (Sakai et al. 1984; Saito and Matsumoto 1988)."
This research suggests that rather than stay up late, what you should actually do is go to bed early in preparation for your night work and sleep from 8pm-midnight at least, then go in for the shift.
That being said, I am a shift worker and a night owl and I have found the anchor sleep concept very difficult to implement because of my night owl nature. I am simply not tired in the evening, regardless of how sleep deprived I am overall, unless I'm literally crashing. However, it sounds like you might be more able to use this idea, if you can handle the early to bed part.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:31 PM on August 13, 2013
Recent studies with rats showed that their alert/sleepy schedules shifted rapidly when they were forced to fast 12-24 hours ahead of time, and then "breakfasted" at the new appropriate wake-up time. This was suggested as a jet-lag cure, and in my limited testing it worked fairly well.
So, if Tuesday you begin working 3rd shift, stop eating by Monday evening. Do what you can to shift your sleep hours, but importantly - do not eat at all Tuesday, untii ~1hr before your Tue shift begins (or whenever you would be waking up to go there). Shift all your meal times.
Forgot this on a one-week, 3rd-shift factory visit recently, with the other team members pushing for eating together at all meals at normal times. It took 4-1/2 days of our 5-day visit, quite literally, to adjust to the fucking schedule change. Never again!
posted by IAmBroom at 12:19 PM on August 15, 2013
So, if Tuesday you begin working 3rd shift, stop eating by Monday evening. Do what you can to shift your sleep hours, but importantly - do not eat at all Tuesday, untii ~1hr before your Tue shift begins (or whenever you would be waking up to go there). Shift all your meal times.
Forgot this on a one-week, 3rd-shift factory visit recently, with the other team members pushing for eating together at all meals at normal times. It took 4-1/2 days of our 5-day visit, quite literally, to adjust to the fucking schedule change. Never again!
posted by IAmBroom at 12:19 PM on August 15, 2013
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posted by Etrigan at 12:13 PM on August 13, 2013