Have you ever worked in Night Shift and have trouble sleeping?

I currently work as a contractor at AT&T, managing over 16 different business accounts including 2 international accounts from Mead Johnson and Macquarie Bank of Australia. I usually work from 4:30 pm LT to 1 am LT. I usually pass out when I get home around 2 am, but I am now starting find trouble sleeping passed 2am now.

Have any of you ever worked a nigh shift just can't sleep even during the day?

That is not nights. You are working what I used to call swings (3pm-12am)

Nights is 11/12-7/8 -- your shift is awesome. And you don't work nights. Talk to a nurse/doctor to find out how terrible working nights is.

Hmmm..... We are the best shift with better people and aren't lazy as first shift only works 1 account and 3rd shift just does nothing in the dead of night unless if there is an emergency which is rare.

I used to work 9:30PM-5:00AM. I passed out as soon as I got home. I had trouble getting back into my normal sleep pattern after I quit working nights.

I got used to it.

I travel a ton now and have no where near a normal schedule.

I've developed the ability to fall asleep practically the instant I sit or lay down regardless of time or place.

I'm really good at sleeping on Airplanes.

It sucks going to the movies though, I'm usually out before the opening credits are done.

That happens to me as well.

I work 7 till 7.

Cannabis helps me sleep

I have worked every shift you can imagine and I had trouble sleeping while working the night shift. I worked one schedule that was Monday 12 M to 8 AM Tuesday and Wednesday 4 PM to 12 M and Friday and Saturday 8 AM to 4 PM. Sometimes I would wake up, and would not know what time it was, what day of the week it was, or where I was supposed to be.

That's not really a night shift, I would LOVE to have a shift like that.

I work 11pm to 7am yeah it sucks trying to sleep. I usually get 5-6 hours during my first two shifts and 7 the rest.

Talk to a Doctor though about trying sleep medication.

Working at a gas station I worked doubles a lot.

2pm-6am that's 16 hours and of course I would crash.

Be back to work at 2pm the next day.

Had no problem, I used to work 3 shifts and nights was usually 8-8am.

Yeah, as someone said, its quite terrible. Unless you had nothing to do, then its just boredom but my work was pretty hectic so by 2-3 am you're running on fumes but still had 5 hours to go. Anyone slept while standing up or walking?

Back on-topic, no. When I'm fucking tired, then I'm fucking tired which means i'll sleep whenever I have to.

Just as others have said, that's not a night shift. Those are actually the hours I work(4p-12a)but next week, I will be working graveyard(11p-7:30a) for 2weeks

But as far as your problem with sleeping, I would suggest chamomile tea. It works for me when I have problems sleeping.

Yeah that's a late swing you're talking about, not really a late/grave shift. At my job we go 5AM-330PM, 11AM-930PM, and 7PM-530AM

To the topic, yes, we rotate and I actually will be going back to graveyard (night) shift in a month. I like it, actually; my company pays a differential (an extra 4.00 per hour, or about 450 a month), I don't have to deal with my bosses or most people because they're not there so I can just get shit done, and I am a bit of a night owl, anyway :D Oh and I get to blast the music and just do my job and no one gives me a hard time.

Honestly, the only problem with working graveyard is not the shift itself, but the rest of the world. You still have people mowing their lawns, garbage trucks coming, delivery people ringing your doorbell, and (in my case) roommates who no matter how they try still make enough noise to wake you up. And people just can't comprehend it; they'll be like "So can I drop by at 2PM?" and I am like "No, I am working graveyard and wil be sleeping then." so they kind of look at me and are like "How about 3PM?" and I am like "NO! Look, you can either meet with me a couple hours after my shift at like 8AM, or before my shift at like 5PM" to which they reply "Oh we aren't open then".

You learn to hate society while on graveyard. It doesn't help I am in a small town where everything closes at 9.

If I had a cabin or even a home that was a few blocks from any main street and no roommates, I might stay on graveyard permanently.

Oh, and blackout curtains. Buy them. And comfortable ear plugs. I Like the cheap foam ones without cords.

Midnights are awesome. Love them. They fly by like nothing.

Not sure if it is kosher wit the Gamespot ToU, but I recommend cannabis. What state are you in @FireEmblem_Man? I got my medical card, and the stuff does wonders for me. I usually mix a bit of cannabis honey with hot water and a squeeze of lime, sip on that while playing a slow-paced game (Civilization or something turn-based), and before I know it I feel like a slug and I kind of slither into bed and it is just lights out.

More importantly, the quality of sleep I get is top-notch, nothing disturbs me, I don't wake up like five times, and I sleep a full 6+ hours which is good enough for me. I don't really use cannabis recreationally any more (I'm not in high school and college any longer lol), I pretty much take it before I go to bed and that's it.

Amazing plant, wonderful medicine, excellent sleep aid.

@stuff238: "Midnights are awesome. Love them. They fly by like nothing."

I would think so too. I hear managers/people are more laid back. Is that accurate?

If so, maybe the next job I should apply for is a night shift position.

A long time ago, I worked a 3 on, 4 off 12.5 hour shift from 7pm until 7:30 am. My sleep patterns were all messed up, especially due to the 4 days off. I would end up sleeping at night during my off nights and then have to switch my patterns to sleeping duing the day during my work days.

There are bad sides of working a night shift. Your circadian rhythms get messed up and it can cause depression and vitamin D deficiency due to lessened exposure to sunlight. Your social life also suffers.

I had the opposite expereince. If I imbibed cannabis too close to bed time, I was unable to go to sleep until I came down. My mind was too active. That said, I slept like a rock, but I think it interrupted my REM sleep. I didn't have dreams that I remembered and I always woke up really groggy no matter how many hours I slept.

@bforrester420: yeah you need to get indica, not sativa. Indica is your stony, couch-lock, want-to-go-to-sleep high. Sativa is your cerebral high, makes you want to do stuff, create, imagine, etc.. The latter can actually give you energy! This is a good article about the differences.

There has been really good progress lately in other aspects of cannabis. You can now get tinctures, compounds, edibles, etc that are either high or contain only CBD (cannabidiol). CBD is non-psychoactive, so you don't get that mental high often associated with cannabis use. Instead all you get is relaxed, sedated, and a bit of pain relief. I know that might not appeal to everyone ("where's the fun in that?" they might think) but for a lot of people that don't want to worry about riding the wave of being high, CBD is a great alternative to a lot of other medicines that have side effects (grogginess, addiction, etc).

My personal experience with CBD products, or strains with a high CBD:THC ration, has been great; I am on my feet 11+ hours a day in a really physical job, so I Come home and eat a CBD "chew" (it's like a Tootsie roll!) and an hour later I am sleepy, my muscles don't ache, and my feet aren't killing me. And I much prefer it to ibuprofen which are known to cause strokes, ulcers, thin blood, and other complications.

I'm really happy with the direction cannabis is going, it's not all potheads and hippies any more. There is actual science and research behind it now. Sadly the DEA successfully made it a schedule I drug, meaning they treat it like it is heroin lol. Give me a break.

@mrbojangles25: Hell, this was back when the distribution network wasn't sophisticated enough to know what strains you were getting. I'm sure most everything at that time was an Indica/Sativa hybrid anyway. I just got whatever my "guy" had available. I've long since given up that habit...I started getting panic attacks and didn't enjoy it anymore.