How to manage 3 days of dayshift and 2 nights of nightshift in a work week?
November 17, 2011 2:03 PM Subscribe
How can my son manage his sleep when he works part-time nightshift/dayshift?
His 5-day work week consists of 3 days of dayshift (most commonly 9-4, but sometimes 7-4, or 4-11: I'm not sure that it matters) and 2 nights of nightshift (11PM-7AM). There is always at least one day off before and after a nightshift and the 2 nightshifts are always adjacent.
He's 21 and works in a supermarket on a variety of tasks.
How can he mange his sleep? It's driving him crazy.
His 5-day work week consists of 3 days of dayshift (most commonly 9-4, but sometimes 7-4, or 4-11: I'm not sure that it matters) and 2 nights of nightshift (11PM-7AM). There is always at least one day off before and after a nightshift and the 2 nightshifts are always adjacent.
He's 21 and works in a supermarket on a variety of tasks.
How can he mange his sleep? It's driving him crazy.
2nding that he needs to get a better schedule - working nights completely screws with your sleep rhythms. in the meantime, a completely blacked-out room + some nice earplugs (i use Howard Leight LPF-1 Max Lite Uncorded, they're awesome) will help. unfortunately it's not really possible to adjust to a schedule like that.
posted by facetious at 2:15 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by facetious at 2:15 PM on November 17, 2011
working nights can be totally fine, as long as it's a consistent schedule. the problem here is the switching of schedules.
posted by nadawi at 2:19 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by nadawi at 2:19 PM on November 17, 2011
This sounds awful.
The only way I can think of doing it is to do:
MTW (days), Thurs Fri (nights) and have Saturday and Sunday (or any two days *in a row* off.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:24 PM on November 17, 2011
The only way I can think of doing it is to do:
MTW (days), Thurs Fri (nights) and have Saturday and Sunday (or any two days *in a row* off.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:24 PM on November 17, 2011
I worked 3 days a week night shift (without the day shift on the other days but I was awake during the day anyway). I generally just stayed up all night the day before I had night shift (e.g. Get up 10am, go to bed 6am next day, sleep all day and get up in the evening for the night shift). Then after my last night shift I'd get home in the morning and stay up all day and go to sleep in the evening to get back onto the regular schedule. This was all pretty easy for me as I can stay awake for a long time then sleep for a long time if needed.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:24 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:24 PM on November 17, 2011
I support nadawi's suggestion for making the bedroom as dark as possible. I've never worked such a crazed set of shifts, so I don't know what other suggestions would help. I personally have found that melatonin, a half an hour of exercise each day and a consistent sleep time has been my most successful solution to sleep issues. Additionally, don't drink anything caffeinated. I've felt and functioned vastly better when I finally got this in order.
posted by graxe at 2:25 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by graxe at 2:25 PM on November 17, 2011
My schedule was something like
Mon - regular daytime schedule
Tues - regular daytime schedule
Wed - get up late in the morning and stay up all night. Go to bed early Thurs morning (7am?)
Thurs - Sleep all day and get up in the evening. Work night shift.
Fri - Get home in the morning. Sleep all day and get up in the evening. Work night shift.
Sat - Get home in the morning and stay up all day (or as much as I could). Go to bed in the evening.
Sun - Back on normal (daytime) schedule.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:28 PM on November 17, 2011
Mon - regular daytime schedule
Tues - regular daytime schedule
Wed - get up late in the morning and stay up all night. Go to bed early Thurs morning (7am?)
Thurs - Sleep all day and get up in the evening. Work night shift.
Fri - Get home in the morning. Sleep all day and get up in the evening. Work night shift.
Sat - Get home in the morning and stay up all day (or as much as I could). Go to bed in the evening.
Sun - Back on normal (daytime) schedule.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:28 PM on November 17, 2011
Best answer: I want to preface the below with this fair warning: no one can keep this up for very long. Your son needs to get a regular schedule, either all days, all nights, all swing shifts. Most people can't keep this up and maintain their mental well being more than about 10 weeks changing shifts like this.
It's impossible for most people to handle for long unless they've got a really broken sleep schedule, but the 28-hour day might work. Basically you re-hash your sleep schedule into six 28-hour days per week instead of 7x24. Sleeps are around 10 hours long, awake for 18 hour stretches. It would work something like this, starting with Sunday, assuming he works MTW from 9-4 and FS 11-7:
S: leave work 7a. sleep at 2p.
M: wake at 12am. work 9a-4p. sleep at 6p.
T: wake at 4am. work 9a-4p. sleep at 10p.
W: wake at 8am. work 9a-4p.
R: sleep at 2a. wake at 12n. do whatever.
F: sleep at 6a. wake at 4p. work 11p-7a.
S: sleep at 10a. wake at 8p. work 11p-7a.
I did this in college for a quarter and it worked for me for several weeks, but I am a fringe case with a very broken circadian rhythm. You absolutely must have a quiet, blacked-out room to sleep in. You also have to not mind trying to entertain yourself at different, weird hours of the day.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:41 PM on November 17, 2011
It's impossible for most people to handle for long unless they've got a really broken sleep schedule, but the 28-hour day might work. Basically you re-hash your sleep schedule into six 28-hour days per week instead of 7x24. Sleeps are around 10 hours long, awake for 18 hour stretches. It would work something like this, starting with Sunday, assuming he works MTW from 9-4 and FS 11-7:
S: leave work 7a. sleep at 2p.
M: wake at 12am. work 9a-4p. sleep at 6p.
T: wake at 4am. work 9a-4p. sleep at 10p.
W: wake at 8am. work 9a-4p.
R: sleep at 2a. wake at 12n. do whatever.
F: sleep at 6a. wake at 4p. work 11p-7a.
S: sleep at 10a. wake at 8p. work 11p-7a.
I did this in college for a quarter and it worked for me for several weeks, but I am a fringe case with a very broken circadian rhythm. You absolutely must have a quiet, blacked-out room to sleep in. You also have to not mind trying to entertain yourself at different, weird hours of the day.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:41 PM on November 17, 2011
Best answer: I used to proofread reports for a psychologist who studied shift-workers and there are certain recommendations to make it slightly more tolerable. Unfortunately it was over ten years ago so I don't remember much but if you google "rotational shift workers", there is this helpful page.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:00 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:00 PM on November 17, 2011
In place of a white noise machine or earplugs, a portable fan works very well and might be something you already have at home.
posted by Jaie at 3:05 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by Jaie at 3:05 PM on November 17, 2011
Just remember that day shift folks don't go to bed when they get off. Try to stay up a "normal" five hours or so after work. Wake up in time to do the "morning" routine and head out for work. Good luck, it's brutal. I did it for three years.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:33 PM on November 17, 2011
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:33 PM on November 17, 2011
In place of a white noise machine or earplugs, a portable fan works very well and might be something you already have at home.
I use fan mode on my A/C every night to compensate for noisy neighbors. Works like a charm.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:56 PM on November 17, 2011
I use fan mode on my A/C every night to compensate for noisy neighbors. Works like a charm.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:56 PM on November 17, 2011
After the midnight-shift (11PM - 7AM), wear shades to filter out the daylight when returning home from work. Go immediately to sleep after having breakfast. Sleep in a dark room, and use a white noise generator to filter out the daytime noise. Wake up in the afternoon after getting sufficient sleep. Take a short nap before heading out to work.
After the last midnight-shift, if you're scheduled to go back to work on a day shift, you should stay up as long as you can after eating breakfast. Try to work towards a normal sleep routine i.e. sleeping at night.
Prior to the first midnight-shift, stay up as long as can. Sleep in late. Again, try to adjust to a midnight shift sleep routine. Working a swing-shift (4PM - 11PM) prior to a midnight-shift actually helps you adjust to that sleep cycle.
Try to maintain normal meal times, don't eat a meal when working a midnight-shift.
posted by plokent at 3:58 PM on November 17, 2011
After the last midnight-shift, if you're scheduled to go back to work on a day shift, you should stay up as long as you can after eating breakfast. Try to work towards a normal sleep routine i.e. sleeping at night.
Prior to the first midnight-shift, stay up as long as can. Sleep in late. Again, try to adjust to a midnight shift sleep routine. Working a swing-shift (4PM - 11PM) prior to a midnight-shift actually helps you adjust to that sleep cycle.
Try to maintain normal meal times, don't eat a meal when working a midnight-shift.
posted by plokent at 3:58 PM on November 17, 2011
Best answer: I did two summers of rotational shift work (a week of each shift) which eventually taught my body that anytime it was horizontal was sleep time, since position was the only cue it got.
I've also worked shifts like your son with multiple shifts through the week. The only time I didn't work was between 6 and 7am.
This is what I did (assuming he works Thursday and Friday night):
Figure out your optimal sleep period. For me, and for the purpose of this example, it's 3 hours. 2 and 4hrs I wake up stunned and miserable, but with 3 I wake up not-groggy and reasonably functional.
Wed: Stay up as late as possible
Thursday: Sleep in as long as you can but not all day. Just before you go to work, have a 3 hr (or whatever) nap. Work.
Friday morning: Get home from work, have your nap but you can go longer if you need it, get up and see sunshine! Sleep 3 hrs before work.
Saturday morning: Sleep 3 hrs. See sunshine if you can! Go to bed at a 'normal' time.
posted by platypus of the universe at 5:11 PM on November 17, 2011
I've also worked shifts like your son with multiple shifts through the week. The only time I didn't work was between 6 and 7am.
This is what I did (assuming he works Thursday and Friday night):
Figure out your optimal sleep period. For me, and for the purpose of this example, it's 3 hours. 2 and 4hrs I wake up stunned and miserable, but with 3 I wake up not-groggy and reasonably functional.
Wed: Stay up as late as possible
Thursday: Sleep in as long as you can but not all day. Just before you go to work, have a 3 hr (or whatever) nap. Work.
Friday morning: Get home from work, have your nap but you can go longer if you need it, get up and see sunshine! Sleep 3 hrs before work.
Saturday morning: Sleep 3 hrs. See sunshine if you can! Go to bed at a 'normal' time.
posted by platypus of the universe at 5:11 PM on November 17, 2011
I did this for about three months -- that was all I could take. It is truly awful.
The only tip (other than getting a better job/schedule) that I can offer is this: after your last dayshift of the cycle, try to stay up as late as possible to prime yourself for the night shift that's coming. I found it very helpful to watch movies to help keep me up past the point when I would otherwise have crashed. Horror movies worked best, but anything loud and action-y was ok.
posted by ourobouros at 7:30 PM on November 17, 2011
The only tip (other than getting a better job/schedule) that I can offer is this: after your last dayshift of the cycle, try to stay up as late as possible to prime yourself for the night shift that's coming. I found it very helpful to watch movies to help keep me up past the point when I would otherwise have crashed. Horror movies worked best, but anything loud and action-y was ok.
posted by ourobouros at 7:30 PM on November 17, 2011
Ugh! Poor guy! It suuuuuucks being low (wo)man on the totem pole; that type of schedule was the exact kind of bullshit that led me to eventually call it a day and quit my supermarket job in college even though the benefits were pretty good back then. Oh, and the best part was that our store was often short on hours, so the manager would send me -- on the graveyard shifts -- to work at different stores over half an hour away (by car)! Young and dumb as I was, I worked it for nearly two years before ending up exhausted and with a case of walking pneumonia. The only solution for me was to quit and take a "normal" job with regular hours. It was either that or risk getting into an accident due to sleep deprivation (I had so many close calls it isn't even funny).
Tell your son to have a heart-to-heart talk with his manager and let him know that this isn't working out for him. Sometimes the store manager will just keep dumping those split shifts on the employees who don't put up a fuss. If the manager values your son as an employee and is clued in to the fact that this is affecting your son's sleep and work performance, (s)he may be more inclined to tweak shifts with others to make the situation more palatable. If not, advise your son to start looking for another job. Sorry.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 10:01 PM on November 17, 2011
Tell your son to have a heart-to-heart talk with his manager and let him know that this isn't working out for him. Sometimes the store manager will just keep dumping those split shifts on the employees who don't put up a fuss. If the manager values your son as an employee and is clued in to the fact that this is affecting your son's sleep and work performance, (s)he may be more inclined to tweak shifts with others to make the situation more palatable. If not, advise your son to start looking for another job. Sorry.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 10:01 PM on November 17, 2011
Best answer: As an emergency medicine physician, I've done this kind of shifting schedule for years.
I think it depends on whether you are a night person or not what approach you take to this, but I would take one of the following.
If not a night person, use the concept of "anchor sleep". Anchor sleep means getting at least a few hours of sleep at the same time every day, even if you cannot get a full 'nights' sleep at that time. So in your son's case, before going in to the night shift, he could sleep from 8:30-10:30pm or something like that and the anchor sleep should leave him feeling more able to face the night. But to take advantage of this he should be sleeping during those hours on all the days of the week, including his days off...
If he is a night person, he could do it the way I do it, which is to progressively stay up later and later in the 2 or 3 days before a night shift, so that the night before, I'm staying up until 2 or 3am, and then although I still feel tired by 5 or 6am on the first night shift, if I'm doing a few in a row I get used to it fast. The first night in a string, I go almost straight to bed when I come home, but then if I was doing 2 nights in a row, I would do my best to either stay up until evening time the next day, or be very strict about only letting myself take a short nap of an hour or two, so that I can move back to a normal day schedule again.
Also, try to arrange for your son to have a place to sleep that is either at work, or can be walked to from work. And encourage him to use it. And remind him it's OK to pull over and sleep on your way home, even if you're only 5 minutes away. And offer to give him rides if needed if he is too tired to drive and needs to get home. He needs to be aware that how you deal with driving after a night shift is truly a life or death situation, and treat it as such.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:39 PM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think it depends on whether you are a night person or not what approach you take to this, but I would take one of the following.
If not a night person, use the concept of "anchor sleep". Anchor sleep means getting at least a few hours of sleep at the same time every day, even if you cannot get a full 'nights' sleep at that time. So in your son's case, before going in to the night shift, he could sleep from 8:30-10:30pm or something like that and the anchor sleep should leave him feeling more able to face the night. But to take advantage of this he should be sleeping during those hours on all the days of the week, including his days off...
If he is a night person, he could do it the way I do it, which is to progressively stay up later and later in the 2 or 3 days before a night shift, so that the night before, I'm staying up until 2 or 3am, and then although I still feel tired by 5 or 6am on the first night shift, if I'm doing a few in a row I get used to it fast. The first night in a string, I go almost straight to bed when I come home, but then if I was doing 2 nights in a row, I would do my best to either stay up until evening time the next day, or be very strict about only letting myself take a short nap of an hour or two, so that I can move back to a normal day schedule again.
Also, try to arrange for your son to have a place to sleep that is either at work, or can be walked to from work. And encourage him to use it. And remind him it's OK to pull over and sleep on your way home, even if you're only 5 minutes away. And offer to give him rides if needed if he is too tired to drive and needs to get home. He needs to be aware that how you deal with driving after a night shift is truly a life or death situation, and treat it as such.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:39 PM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
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even this isn't really enough though - it's a tough schedule and one he should find his way out of. it's especially shitty that it's not just 1st and 3rd shift, but 2nd as well - he's telling his body there is literally not a single hour in the day he can expect to be resting on a consistent basis.
posted by nadawi at 2:08 PM on November 17, 2011 [1 favorite]