Rant: working the graveyard shift

[roadie gal]

I just have to rant. For 20+ years I worked the graveyard shift with no problems. In the last few years I've moved to working mostly the pm shift, which is much better for my training. This past week I did 3 graves' in a row. 4 days later, I'm still paying for it. I haven't been able to train all week. I'm still exhausted. What is the deal?? Am I a wus, or just getting old, or what??

[East Hill]

Wuss, and getting old both .

I'm just teasing, I've worked nothing but graveyard for almost 30 years. I love graveyard.

But, it sounds as if you are rotating shifts? That's a very, very tough thing to do. I don't think I'd enjoy that much, and I think I'd be suffering too.

East Hill

[mtkitchn]

I hear ya, roadie. I worked graveyard shifts for years, but now that I've gotten away from them, it kills me to work them! I think it's partly getting older and partly getting used to a more humane schedule.

[Pax]

I've heard (scientifically) that some folks can adapt to nights and others just can't. I worked nights for three years and it almost killed me, I never slept more than 3-4 hours at a time and was perpetually exhausted...I NEVER adapted. Once you've been off that shift, for even a short time, your body re-adjusts to normal hours, going back to nights can be really difficult...I wish you the best of luck. You're a better woman than me if you can manage it.

[run it, ride it]

I worked nights for two seasons. LOVED it, slept fine so long as I exhausted myself after my shift and crawled into bed around noon. It was the lack of sunlight that forced me onto days: the dark didn't do much for the mind's ten-twenty.

Perhaps the still-dark season is making the shift (pun intended) extra-rough.

[chickwhorips]

my bf works rotating shifts. 7 evenings of 16:00 to midnight, 6 days of 08:00 to 16:00 and then 7 nights of midnight to 08:00. it keeps getting harder for him to sleep and recover.

rotating shifts are the hardest. even if you work them once in a while. your body gets use to the one shift. i'm happy i'm on the same shift all the time.

[East Hill]

There's nothing worse than rotating shifts for most humans. It's impossible to successfully adjust. People on rotating shifts seem to get really cranky, fast. And yet Boeing's made planes that way for years...

East Hill