Second Shifters

your definition of second shift appears to be different than mine

I work what I call second shift, 3p-11p - don't miss too much, just gotta get out of bed earlier in the morning


If what you refer to second shift is the overnight shift, or what I would call third shift, then I feel for you.  Humans are not designed to be awake all night and sleep during the day.

Edited by Mainer22 2009-08-13 10:35 PM

Work 3 - 11:30 also. I'm drained all day, feel like I have a paino on my back at all times! I would rather work third shift than this as it seems I can never get anything done in the am! Then my usuable hours would be from 7am to whenever instead of midnight till 4 am . Gotta ask when do you sleep, and when do you train!

Third shifter here, and I would LOVE second (except not at my workplace, ICK!). The first year I stayed up in the morning and slept in the afternoon - great to get all that sunlight all winter long, but SUCKED to have to close my eyes on a gorgeous day just to wake up in the dark. Not to mention having zero social activities. This year, because I was doing my EMT classes, I sleep in the morning and am up at night. Great for socializing (maybe THIS is why I've gained so much weight?!), but suckage for training until summer was all the way here. Definitely switching back for the winter - training is more important than socializing!

If I worked second, I would get home around 11:30 and be out like a light by 12 and actually get to sleep in the DARK. Then, up around 8 for a full, well-rested morning!

But I do like the shift differential.

Third shifter, with day classes. I sleep whenever I can, sometimes not for a couple days at a time. It's kind of like self-torture sometimes, trying to see how long I can stay awake, with out crashing my car, or saying something so incomprehensibly stupid that all my friends stop talking to me.

Maybe I should try the incomprehensibly stupid thing... no social life=more sleep=something.... erm, I'll take what I can get I guess.

life has a rhythm?

I work mostly overnights - either 5pm-8am or 7pm-7am...2 out of 3 weekends too.  It kills me regardless of the season.  It's tough to train during the day after working a bunch of overnights and I sometimes feel sad that I can't train consistently on weekends like the rest of the world.  I just try to compromise by getting SOME quality sleep and maximizing my time outdoors on days off.

The key for me is to be in bed by 1am, it's easy to plop down in front of the TV or PC and that keeps me awake longer.  If I'm in bed by 1am, then I am usually up by 7-8am (note - this is one benefit to having kids, they are persistent alarm clocks with no "snooze" button).  Once they are off to school/daycare, then I usually have a good 4+ hours right smack in the middle of the day to get my training in, eat, rest if needed, surf BT, etc before work.

ETA:  Pre-kids, I was on your schedule - work till 11pm, home, up till at least 3am then sleep until 10 or 11am.  By the time you get going in the morning and eat and stuff it's almost time for work, so I hear what you are saying.  Just got to eliminate the late night hours and goto bed earlier when you get home from work.  Now I usually watch 1 tv show right when I get home, and then off to bed.

Edited by Mainer22 2009-08-14 7:19 AM

I work 12 hour nights, 7p-7a Fri, Sat, Sun.  So I'm off all week, and able to stay home with the baby while my wife works her 8-5 job during the week.