How do you guys cope with midnight shift work?
Does the shfit work wear down your body quickly?

I just applied for Help desk IT job that requires shift work. I cringe at the thought of grave yard shift.

I have never had to do extended overnight work (meaning everyday). Set some strict rules in regard to waking up and sleeping don't let your friends suck you into drastically changing your schedual, if you have a child...well good luck. Don't become a caffine addict if you are not already. Force yourself to take breaks and get up and walk around (stairs are great). Put something visually interesting about 6 inches next to your screen and farther back it will keep your eyes adjusting and help keep you from getting bleary eye'd (I use SI's swimsuit calender) <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Drink water for 2 reasons, one its good for you plus the more bathroom breaks the better, use the bathroom on another floor if you can (take the stairs). If you are going to be working in a cube (which you most certainly are) get a mirror so you can see behind you.

Some other things I do -
plant: oxygen is good, even if you're a plant assassin like me..just keep replacing them <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Fan: oxygen is good, I have one of those cheap desk fans to keep the air moving around me, and no computer chasis fans and CPU fans don't count
Radio: just keep it on very-low playing whatever music you like
Food: eat properly i.e. not pepperoni hotpockets 3x a day, fruit/veggies are your friend
Water: keep the largest bottle of water at your desk you can, shotguning Red Bull and coffee will not help in the long run

Like everything else, take care of your body and it will take care of you

If you are addicted to something on TV, invest in a Tivo box.

As mentioned, hydrate. A lot. Don't rely on caffiene or other stimulants. I've done this schedule, and orange juice is much better for you than coffee. I'd say nothing harder than tea, and not for a couple hours before the end of your shift. Vitamin C is your friend. I used to go through a gallon of OJ every other day when I did this shift.

Pee early and pee often. I like the idea about using a head on another floor if possible. If it's quiet, invent things to do, don't read and surf. If need be, buy a bag of beans and if the shift goes to poo at oh-dark-thirty, be ready to explain why there are beans all over the office.

I don't suggest three meals a day, though. Four. Wake up around 6 or 7, and eat with your family if you have one. Let dinner be a real dinner most days. Have a small meal twice during your shift, then a normal breakfast without coffee or tea when you get home. Run any errands you need to first thing in the day or on the weekends. If you need to talk to your doctor about sleeping meds, do so, but try melatonin first.

You'll want to be able to black out your sleeping area, and set up a fan for white noise during the day. If you have pets, block the door so they can't get it open. The same goes doubly for kids.

I suggest getting exercise, particularly right when you get home. Run or lift free weights. Eat that normal breakfast I mentioned, shower, and go to bed.

Weekends are going to suck. Does your week start Sunday night, or Monday night? If Sunday, get up early on Friday so can sorta be with it on Saturday and Sunday, go to sleep around 3 or 4 on Sunday with a 8 or 9 wake up. If you have to work Friday night, social life? What's that? At least you'll have the first half of Monday to take care of stuff.

Make sure you see your family and friends. And the sun. On the weekend, such as it is. Otherwise, you won't be a vampire, you'll be a zombie.

Oh, and cut the alcohal out of your diet. Give up smoking if you do so right now. These are both going to really, really mess with you. Your body is going to be doing funny things as it is.

The worst job I had was 3 years graveyard shift. I made VHS videos under the late Jose Menendez. If you want to rot your brain, stare at 100s of monitors playing either pornography, This is Israel travel documentaries or Gumby cartoons. My G/F at the time was a born again christian punk rocker. Mary Katherine said I was irish, male and had the same wretched shift and we were therefor going together. The security guards were insecure with soldier of misfortune magazines and prominently displayed handguns. One fell asleep 4 nights running. So I organised the removal of Jose's desk past the guard and out to his designated parking place. I also removed the firing pin from his Star 9MM. You will want to turn off every device of communication. Back then there were no cellphones. But I'll never forget a call at noon. " Hi, my name is Tiffany, and I am writing a disssertation on W.B.Yeats. Your classmate XXXXX says your fluent in Gaelic and versed in irish history. So I want you to tell me if Sailing to Byzantium is really a metaphor for the rebellion with references. " I ripped the phone from the wall hard enough to leave a bulb of percussion potmark in the drywall. Mary dropped it into the fish tank. You will say things and not remember them. We were all teminated two days before Christmas. I told Jose he was such a macho jerk cuban someday somebody would take a 12 guage to his big mouth. Guess who was interviewed a few months later? Save some vacation time. When you do come off this shift take it. I was a full year getting my bio rhythems, appetite, chakras, aura or whatever you want to call your internal clock back to normal. Mary Katherine moved to a cranberry farm in Washington State and I bought my first horse on Christmas day with my severence package. Along with the vacation reward yourself at this adventure's end.

I have worked graveyard shift at a hospital for over 4 years now. As everything in life there are some advantages and disadvantages to this.

Advantages: generally less work then during the day, no boss around, sometimes its possible to take a nap, generally better pay and less hours worked.

Disadvantages: during the winter I sometimes don't see the sun for weeks, you work opposite to your spouse and sometimes you dont see her for days, its more taxing on the body (if you don't take care of yourself)

Some tips that I can give from personal experience:
1. Very important: make sure your room is completely dark, not even a little bit of light coming in, and as quiet as possible. Your body needs to be fooled that it is night when its actually daylight and kids are playing outside.
2. Come back from work and don't screw around, go to bed immediately. The longer you wait, the harder it is to fall asleep.
3. If you have a hard time sleeping for 8 hours straight, then take a nap right before work. This technique is very helpful.
4. Don't eat too close to bedtime
5. Once again, make sure you get your normal amount of sleep, otherwise you will have "sleep debt" accumulated and you will be cranky and tired.
6. Melatonin is very helpful if you start having trouble sleeping. It is specifically indicated for shift work disorders.
7. At least some exercise is a good idea.

As you might have guessed from my post, sleep is very improtant for shift workers. If you are not able to sleep during the day, for whatever reason , perhaps you should switch do days in the future.

I actually prefer graveyard for the above advantages, and since I can sleep during the day well, I handled it pretty good till now.

Alex

How do I cope? I was young, energetic and stupid. Now I'm older and a little less stupid......but I left the shift. Ask yourself if YOU really want to wake up the nice medic and have him calculate YOUR drug dosages at 0400 hours.....I'd had enough......

One little trick I've found. Wear sunglasses once the sun starts coming out while you are driving home.

Is this a pemanent shift or will you rotate. I rotate and about every "weekend" I wind up sleeping a night of 10 plus hours to get reoriented.

Just make sure if it is a fixed shift to have a routine for eating and sleeping. If you have to rotate you get used to functioning sleep deprived and have to watch what and how much you eat. Its real easy to gain weight if your rotating. the comments on caffine and such are great, but usually not followed. You just have to get to know your own body.

Take care, and stay safe.

I've been doing the 3rd shift thing for most of going on 20 years. Part-time during college, and full time since then (with a year or 3 of 1st shift thrown in there).

All of the recommendations given so far are great. If you need the caffenated(sp) beverages, stick to the diet stuff. The extra calories from the regular stuff will add up after while, trust me I know. I tend to stick to water until about mid-shift, then I bust out the keys to the soda fountain and grab a liter of diet cola that lasts me until the end of the shift (i'm not a coffee drinker).

OGRE

PLants don't tend to photosynthesise at night, they just respirate. Which means they'll be lowering the local oxygen levels. (If the effect of the plant is even noticable.)

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