Shift work and working nights

Einstein

On nights as we speak. Ive been doing shift work with nights scattered along the way. I went back to college and finished a degree last year, and my job is pretty heavy on night shifts. Problem solving, dealing with emergencies etc.

I'm 41 now, and feel it's definitely harder to recover than previous shifts I've done. I do feel the reference to stroke, diabetes and heart conditions etc is mainly down to a lack of consistent diet and exercise regimes. Most people I know that work nights have terrible eating habits (Me too at times).

Hoping that I'll get a more regular daytime position in the future, but with my profession, its difficult to avoid nights.

McBain11

Anyone else on here work a 5 cycle pattern? I do 4x12 hr nights, then 3x12 hr days, then 3x12hr nights, then 4x12hr days.

All of those 14 shifts are done in the space of 3 weeks, then in the final 2 weeks of the pattern you just work up a flexible 2 shifts somewhere.

I'm at it over 10 years. It was never easy but in the last 2-3 years I'm absolutely wiped from it. The quick turnaround from nights to days is an absolute killer.

PerrinV2

Have anyone got links to the sleep studies/negative impacts of being on nights people are referring to?

scudzilla

McBain11 wrote: »

Anyone else on here work a 5 cycle pattern? I do 4x12 hr nights, then 3x12 hr days, then 3x12hr nights, then 4x12hr days.

All of those 14 shifts are done in the space of 3 weeks, then in the final 2 weeks of the pattern you just work up a flexible 2 shifts somewhere.

I'm at it over 10 years. It was never easy but in the last 2-3 years I'm absolutely wiped from it. The quick turnaround from nights to days is an absolute killer.

I occasionally do an extra shift for a bit extra and sometimes these are days, it's a nightmare, my pattern is 3 on 1 off 3 on, then 3 off 1 on 3 off over and over.

In my 3 off i may do a day shift to give them a dig out and finishing a night shift at 07:00 then back into a 12hr day shift just 24hrs later, horrible if you don't time your sleep right

knockers84

Lasted a year, it affects you terribly.

84 hour week of nights and then a week off. Pay was excellent but **** me it was torturous and it does affect mental health. I was constantly miserable after three months of it.

It does suit a lot of people though and doesn’t affect them whatsoever

scudzilla

knockers84 wrote: »

Lasted a year, it affects you terribly.

84 hour week of nights and then a week off. Pay was excellent but **** me it was torturous and it does affect mental health. I was constantly miserable after three months of it.

It does suit a lot of people though and doesn’t affect them whatsoever

No wonder it affected you and was torturous, doing 7 consecutive nights is just crazy, after 4 you'll start being WAY less effective and any decent employer should know this. Finishing up after 7 straight and you'll probably be looking at 3 days to fully get back to normal, then 4 days later you start all over again.

brianc27

work nights roughly half the year, been doing it 15 years, im 38 and never felt healthier to be honest, sure i deffo feel a bit more lethargic during the night shift cycle but certainly hasn't affected my mental health, i love having extra days off to spent time with my kid, sleeping can be an issue, there are times when i probably sleep too much or cant sleep at all, but that would be maybe only 1 or 2 nights now and again.

i try not to eat ****e and keep up gym/exercise routine when on nights, this definitely helps.

i've never felt working nights/days shift work was particularly detrimental to my well being.

eviltwin

I do night shifts, they don't bother me. I do day shifts too and find them tougher tbh.

McBain11

scudzilla wrote: »

I occasionally do an extra shift for a bit extra and sometimes these are days, it's a nightmare, my pattern is 3 on 1 off 3 on, then 3 off 1 on 3 off over and over.

In my 3 off i may do a day shift to give them a dig out and finishing a night shift at 07:00 then back into a 12hr day shift just 24hrs later, horrible if you don't time your sleep right

It's the turnover from nights to days that is brutal. I'll never get used to it.

Has anyone doing nights for years found themselves being more forgetful or just the memory is getting worse and worse.

AmberGold

While in my 20’s I worked permanent nights as an operative in a cannery for about 2 years. Working in a cannery alone is depressing enough, the noise, heat and its generally hard physical labour. The money was good but it’s no consolation.

I can’t believe this company expected some people to work permanent nights, must have been some union pressures from the day shift who were all long term employees, really well organised and consisted mainly of families and locals.

My shift was 11pm to 8am 5 days a week, I used to meet my mates coming home from the pub when I was cycling into work.

This was 30 years ago before the internet and accessible medical reports on the negatives of night shifts, even back then they knew it was bad for health.

I totally get you OP, thankfully I managed to get out of that routine by getting into sales and working 9-5. Never looked back.

arccosh

absolutely wrecked my Dad. he did over 10 years of 12 hour shifts over a 5 days, 2 days off, 5 nights on 2 days off pattern.... plus overtime..

he finished up and had insomnia for about 2-3 yeas after

scudzilla

For me, one of the biggest advantages about working nights.....far less idiots about :pac:

lufties

Einstein wrote: »

On nights as we speak. Ive been doing shift work with nights scattered along the way. I went back to college and finished a degree last year, and my job is pretty heavy on night shifts. Problem solving, dealing with emergencies etc.

I'm 41 now, and feel it's definitely harder to recover than previous shifts I've done. I do feel the reference to stroke, diabetes and heart conditions etc is mainly down to a lack of consistent diet and exercise regimes. Most people I know that work nights have terrible eating habits (Me too at times).

Hoping that I'll get a more regular daytime position in the future, but with my profession, its difficult to avoid nights.

I made the mistake of entering an industry 20 years ago where nights in prominent. I should've done a degree 10 years ago to get out of it. I finished a PG diploma this year, but it doesn't give me enough oomph to get on regular hours, ****ing sucks

lufties

AmberGold wrote: »

While in my 20’s I worked permanent nights as an operative in a cannery for about 2 years. Working in a cannery alone is depressing enough, the noise, heat and its generally hard physical labour. The money was good but it’s no consolation.

I can’t believe this company expected some people to work permanent nights, must have been some union pressures from the day shift who were all long term employees, really well organised and consisted mainly of families and locals.

My shift was 11pm to 8am 5 days a week, I used to meet my mates coming home from the pub when I was cycling into work.

This was 30 years ago before the internet and accessible medical reports on the negatives of night shifts, even back then they knew it was bad for health.

I totally get you OP, thankfully I managed to get out of that routine by getting into sales and working 9-5. Never looked back.

In Aircraft Engineering nowadays, most jobs are permanent nights.
Aer lingus do 2days x 2 nights, but that wrecks you just as much. Advise anyone to steer clear of Aviation maintenance.

dastardly00

PerrinV2 wrote: »

Have anyone got links to the sleep studies/negative impacts of being on nights people are referring to?

"Health consequences of shift work and insufficient sleep" published in the British Medical Journal
https://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5210

Also check out the publications from Prof. Matthew Walker of UC Berkley
https://www.humansleepscience.com/p-u-b-l-i-c-a-t-i-o-n-s

lufties

dastardly00 wrote: »

"Health consequences of shift work and insufficient sleep" published in the British Medical Journal
https://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5210

Also check out the publications from Prof. Matthew Walker of UC Berkley
https://www.humansleepscience.com/p-u-b-l-i-c-a-t-i-o-n-s

I think one's own intuition would suggest shift work is bad for you. I people in their 60s still doing it. Horses for courses.

salmocab

lufties wrote: »

I think one's own intuition would suggest shift work is bad for you. I people in their 60s still doing it. Horses for courses.

A supervisor I worked for kept telling us that his grand dad worked shift all his life and lived well into his 80s, it was generally when somebody said anything negative about shift.
It certainly suits some people more than others.

lufties

salmocab wrote: »

A supervisor I worked for kept telling us that his grand dad worked shift all his life and lived well into his 80s, it was generally when somebody said anything negative about shift.
It certainly suits some people more than others.

Yep, you could be working mon-fri and have to worst bullies possible.

brianc27

Also depends on what your night shift pattern is, I've heard of people working 5 12hr night shifts in a row followed by a week off, any more then 3 consecutive nights shifts is hard going alright. I've never worked more then 4 in a row, mainly only do 3.

Car99

You don't realise how bad permie nights are for you until you stop doing them . Being permanently tired erodes a persons zest for life.

lufties

Car99 wrote: »

You don't realise how bad permie nights are for you until you stop doing them . Being permanently tired erodes a persons zest for life.

Great point, no wonder I'm single at 37, with very few friends.

Car99

lufties wrote: »

Great point, no wonder I'm single at 37, with very few friends.

In fairness most men have very few friends at 37 no matter what their Facebook pages says.