Sleeping patterns

[MrZigster]

I too have worked shifts most of my working life. Currently, I feel my shifts are mental. I have three types, all of which involve an evening away from home.

1. 1500-2300

2. 1900(1830 at weekends)-0830(counts as two shifts)

3. 1030-1830 - stop overnight at hotel - 0630-1430 (two shifts natch)

(oh and the very occasional training/refresher/office day 0900-0500)

You can add 30 minutes driving at each end, but give it an hour to work in case of road chaos (I have to catch a work shuttle, can't be a picosecond late).

There is no pattern to my shifts. Apart from the rule that I do 5 shifts Sun-Sat they pretty much give me what they want. For instance, next week I have Tue and Thu off. I then have Sun Mon off, a stretch of ten shifts made up of 2s and 3s, Fri Sat off.

I have 9 different finish/start times if you see what I mean. In all the years I have been doing this I have never fully got used to it. Yesterday I woke at 0430 for a 1030 shift and couldn't get back to sleep, crashed out at about 2100 with the telly still on only to wake at about 0130 this morning to be kept up by noisy drunken Friday night teens and then the dawn chorus outside my hotel window (I'm generally up at 0500 for those mornings). I feel fubared at the moment (it's an on your feet job). This sort of thing happens all the time.

I'm on a night tomorrow and my usual tactic ('specially at the weekend) is to go out in the evening (or home from work at 2330), stay up 'till gone midnight (alcohol + music collection + pc can help this) and then try to sleep as late as possible (alcohol can help this) in preparation for the 14hr shift (15 with driving). I will catch up on my sleep tomorrow day time if the neighbours don't decide to get the drills out.

Typed the above earlier. Went out at about 21.20. Just back from watching a cracking band.

Still awake and preparing for tomorrows night shift.

All really unhealthy.

Sorry for the rant. I needed that.

Tired and emotional you see.

Yours, pratterling but functioning,

MrZigster

xxx

[Paul ™]

Wow, what do you do mate?

[MrZigster]

Right now I am doing exactly what I said I was about to do and glad I did

[markeee]

I too have worked shifts most of my working life. Currently, I feel my shifts are mental. I have three types, all of which involve an evening away from home.

1. 1500-2300

2. 1900(1830 at weekends)-0830(counts as two shifts)

3. 1030-1830 - stop overnight at hotel - 0630-1430 (two shifts natch)

(oh and the very occasional training/refresher/office day 0900-0500)

You can add 30 minutes driving at each end, but give it an hour to work in case of road chaos (I have to catch a work shuttle, can't be a picosecond late).

There is no pattern to my shifts. Apart from the rule that I do 5 shifts Sun-Sat they pretty much give me what they want. For instance, next week I have Tue and Thu off. I then have Sun Mon off, a stretch of ten shifts made up of 2s and 3s, Fri Sat off.

I have 9 different finish/start times if you see what I mean. In all the years I have been doing this I have never fully got used to it. Yesterday I woke at 0430 for a 1030 shift and couldn't get back to sleep, crashed out at about 2100 with the telly still on only to wake at about 0130 this morning to be kept up by noisy drunken Friday night teens and then the dawn chorus outside my hotel window (I'm generally up at 0500 for those mornings). I feel fubared at the moment (it's an on your feet job). This sort of thing happens all the time.

I'm on a night tomorrow and my usual tactic ('specially at the weekend) is to go out in the evening (or home from work at 2330), stay up 'till gone midnight (alcohol + music collection + pc can help this) and then try to sleep as late as possible (alcohol can help this) in preparation for the 14hr shift (15 with driving). I will catch up on my sleep tomorrow day time if the neighbours don't decide to get the drills out.

Typed the above earlier. Went out at about 21.20. Just back from watching a cracking band.

Still awake and preparing for tomorrows night shift.

All really unhealthy.

Sorry for the rant. I needed that.

Tired and emotional you see.

Yours, pratterling but functioning,

MrZigster

xxx

[MrZigster]

Wow, what do you do mate?

[Katster]

This thread reminds me of when I used to work at Tosco and at college and did work for a friend. I regularly worked over 40 hour weeks and that included evenings and weekends. I was tired ALL the time and slept as and when I possibly could, and with trying to keep up with a social life I always felt like I was burning the candle at both ends.

This thread also reminds me how I lucky I am to now have one job which gives me enough money to afford to live and also gives me all my weekends and all my evenings back so that I get plenty of rest time. It is a much more stressful job when I am here but once I leave the gates that's it, I can leave it all behind.

I feel for all you guys working rough hours but spare a thought for my better half who regularly works over 100 hours in a week and sometimes 24 hours a day

[Katster]

... jeez.. what does he do??

[RABun]

Just to prove how night shifts f**k with your head - i'm on my 4th or 5th week of nights. Before that i'd worked straight through March with no days off at all. So tonight I walked into work early to find my boss to speak to him and he wasnt here. I've left him two phone messages and sent an email and he hasnt replied. So when he wasn't here i burst into tears.

To put it into context i've had a really nasty few months personally family issues etc and i have been trying to find somewhere to live for ages but have been working constantly so have had no time, and now i have less than 2 weeks to find somewhere and move in. So i was trying to arrange some time off to deal with it all and I got really emotional when i still couldn't find my boss to speak to him about it.

still its no excuse for acting like a girl.

[greenfairy43]

I've worked shifts and/0r on calls all my working life, but I'm about to start a Monday to Friday 9-5 job. I can't wait

[Paul ™]

still its no excuse for acting like a girl.

[markeee]

I've worked shifts and/0r on calls all my working life, but I'm about to start a Monday to Friday 9-5 job. I can't wait

[RABun]

Agreed.. now grow a pair

x

[greenfairy43]

What is it you do greenfairy? just wondered as you mention working nights shifts (inc nights) all your working life and now switching to days

[Donkey]

My boiler started leaking badly about 8pm last night (start work at 10pm) and I couldn't afford to take a night off for it and didn't want to inconvenience family and friends. I had to rig up a series of buckets and basins in a kind of pyramid system so that I wouldn't flood my neighbour while I was out. Nightshift sucks.

[markeee]

My boiler started leaking badly about 8pm last night (start work at 10pm) and I couldn't afford to take a night off for it and didn't want to inconvenience family and friends. I had to rig up a series of buckets and basins in a kind of pyramid system so that I wouldn't flood my neighbour while I was out. Nightshift sucks.