Starting on a new shift in a few weeks which is 5 on 3 off starting 22.30 pm till 09.30 after being on days for past couple of years, what’s best way to adjust to this change, what do you regular night guys do regards, sleep & meals??
I did regular nights many years ago and what I did was simply turn the clock upside down. That is, breakfast before work and tea after regardless of GMT. Change PM for AM and you won’t go far wrong.
I used to finish at around 06:00 and go home, have a few beers and relax before tea (breakfast for day workers) then go to bed around 10:00. Was called an alcoholic because I drank beer in the morning but my NIGHT was their morning - if you get my drift 
IMO, nights are bearable in the short term if you’re finished and in bed before the sun comes up.
0930 finishes though? How long does it take you to get home after that?
If you’re happy to sacrifice a few years of life expectancy for a slight increase (hopefully?) in income or if you’re a flapper who can’t handle daytime driving (like Conor 
) then so be it.
I’d be asking for my old shifts back though.
dri-diddly-iver:
I did regular nights many years ago and what I did was simply turn the clock upside down. That is, breakfast before work and tea after regardless of GMT. Change PM for AM and you won’t go far wrong.I used to finish at around 06:00 and go home, have a few beers and relax before tea (breakfast for day workers) then go to bed around 10:00. Was called an alcoholic because I drank beer in the morning but my NIGHT was their morning - if you get my drift
Worked for me for over 12 years. Hardest part was to get the family to accept my early morning drinking as normal…
I went on to nights 3months ago and I will say it took me a month for my body to adjust and still don’t think it’s rite. I take a sleeping tablet twice a week so I can get 8hrs kip cos I do find myself waking up after 4hrs and not being able to get back off. But I will say the roads are great on nights the only thing you’ll have to deal with is diversions as you get countless road closures
i currently do 2 weeks of days and 2 weeks of nights and I’ve found that some people love them and have no trouble adjusting and others struggle to get 3 hours kip even when they’re cream crackered!
i guess you won’t know till you try them, luckily i could sleep for another 8 hours as soon as i wake so no problem there
nodding donkey:
Worked for me for over 12 years. Hardest part was to get the family to accept my early morning drinking as normal…
Mine still struggle now 
Mind you I’ve worked days for the last decade
(That is a joke before the nit pickers start ) I don’t start drinking till 12:00 
The reality is there is no way to adjust your body clock from days to nights or vice versa without it involving being absolutely knackered while in the process of changing it.Ideally that process needs to be done in safety at home.In the case of the change from days to nights its just a case of forcing yourself to stay awake all night while your body is telling you to sleep.Then vice versa in the case of reversing back to days like holidays.In the case of weekends I never bothered because it was safer to just sleep during the day and stay awake at night as usual.
My other half was a diamond when I was on nights before we had kids. Used to get up at silly o’clock to make me a proper meal for when I finished so I didn’t have to have microwaved food.
She sat and had beers with me and when I went to bed she’d come with me.
Wouldn’t do it again though tbh.
Anyway, to make the transition start a few days before you change shift and skip a sleep, have a few beers in the early hours, like 6-10am then crash out. Always worked for me anyway.
I’ve done days to nights to days over time zone changes all within a week and even one duty. Seeing the sun set, then arrive and seeing the sun rise a few hours later screws the body. Duties where your body is telling you it’s 10pm but its 8am and the sun is up in the far east. 15- 21 hour duties, 24 hour body clock reversals, 21 days on the trot. My body clock has been shot to ■■■■ beyond the tired ive ever experienced whilst in a driving job.
My advice comes from years of destroying my body clock in the name of work and may not be the best advice! Getting in a routine of a standard night shift should be a doddle if you’re not reversing your body clock within the working week.
Your first night duty, don’t fight the sleep. You won’t sleep well going to bed early afternoon unless you knackered yourself out doing manual labour on your days off. Instead you’ll lay in bed restless that you can’t sleep and end up panic watching the phone clock. That will actually keep you awake in itself. Just go to bed early eve on the first night. You may not sleep at all. You’ll be tired by the next morning but will sleep the following period.
Your next night you will still be tired. However, endeavour to head straight to bed for as long as possible. By the second duty you will be fine if you can get a decent length of sleep. All through the week allow yourself as much time in bed as poss as sleeping in the day is not natural for the body. Make sure you close the curtains and relax in bed for an hour before bed to trick the body it’s nighttime. Bright lights fool the body into awakeness. Consider ear plugs to keep out noise. Experiment on a day off if you can still hear the alarm with them in. I’ve personally have used them for ages and have yet to not hear a phone alarm.
The problem comes on days off where you try to re acclimatise to a day life on days off.
Oh, and I with the rest of the crew have done “breakfast” beers of a morning in cobbled court yard outside a bar in a dazed relieved “post mission” state watching the world head on its commute to work
Carryfast:
In the case of weekends I never bothered because it was safer to just sleep during the day and stay awake at night as usual.
I’d totally agree with Carryfast, for the sake of two days, I just sleep all day at weekends too, saves the annoyance of having to pull in on the Sunday night because my body clock is’nt back to night mode.
I find night shift to be much better, Where I work you are pretty much left to get on with it in certain ways, and the pay is a bit better
All good advice. One thing I did was, I went to the doctor for something else and was speaking to him about nightshift and struggling to get a decent sleep. I cant remember the name of what he prescribed me but it was based on melatonin, you take between 1 and 3 an hour before bed. These things help you shift you body clock.
Alcohol unfortunately seems to be a common denominator to enable sleep.
When I did regular nights I found myself drinking excessively just to enable me to sleep more than a few hours at a time when the sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains, or the noise of kids playing on the street disturbed me
Black out curtains, batterys out of door bell, house phone ringer off or down low, mobile phone silent mode if a smart phone so when someone sends another bloody candy crush request or email etc your phone dont ping,ear plugs and a very understanding other half.
Black out blind helps immensely and staying on night shift routine over weekend, although this can effect family life.
When I did nights I always had to be done by 6 am because when the day light came and rush hour started I’d been up all night and was not alert enough to cope with it.
I always seemed to have a bit of a dull head ache aswell when I did nights and seemed to be miles away.
G6Bob:
I’d totally agree with Carryfast, for the sake of two days, I just sleep all day at weekends too, saves the annoyance of having to pull in on the Sunday night because my body clock is’nt back to night mode.
That’s fine to say, but I think most people want to be up & about with their friends & families at the weekends rather than in bed all day. Spending your whole life asleep during daytime hours isn’t an ideal recipe for a fulfilling lifestyle. I assume it works for some people including yourself, but I don’t get it.
It was the weekends that did it for me working nights. Mon-Fri I liked it; quiet roads, easy work, no eyes, no hassle, no alarm clock. I used to sleep 7-8 hours during the day easily. Weekend came or a week off & I hated it because I wanted to be in a normal routine again & not constantly knackered.
I’ve done nights for the majority of my driving life, it’s purely a matter of some can adapt, some can’t.
First thing for me was to bin the alarm clock, wake up naturally, other than Saturday.
Day of your first shift try & get a nap in the afternoon, even a short one will help.
Black out curtains are a must, as is leaving the phone downstairs.
First shift was never a problem with tiredness, that comes later in the week as it builds up. I try & get at least 30 mins nap on a 45 break.
I drink as little as possible after midnight as I would be up leaking all day, if you must drink then try to avoid coffee later on.
I find that, when/if the waves of tiredness come then an apple is great for perking you up. Big meals will make you sleepy.
When home I would have a quick wash & bed asap, I don’t drink so never needed the cans.
When finishing shift on a Saturday I only have a couple of hours kip then get up, you might feel groggy for a little while but you’ll get a better sleep at night, in addition to having a more normal weekend with the family.
You will discover a whole new world of daytime TV.
Kaistar:
My other half was a diamond when I was on nights before we had kids. Used to get up at silly o’clock to make me a proper meal for when I finished so I didn’t have to have microwaved food.
She sat and had beers with me and when I went to bed she’d come with me.
Sounds like a keeper, lucky you:lol:
It’s a matter of finding out what works for you and your life circumstances.
Broke my body clock many years ago, no issues with sleeping during the day, even in summer, the light/ noise doesn’t tend to bother me, but make sure you have a decent fan in the bedroom for the hot days, it’ll help mask the noise outside as you’ll likely have the windows open. TV/ radio on low can also help in that regard.
Whether it day or night, if your sleep is disturbed rather than watch the minutes tick by get up for an hour or two then go back to bed. On your off days make allowances if you can for a couple of hours sleep during the day, but no more if you’re off next day else you’ll be up stupidly early in the morning, unless a couple of hours to yourself before the rest of the family wake up has its benefits.
Stopped the stupid o’clock starts last September but still like an hour or two on the odd afternoon, not thrilled about being awake at 2/3/4am but enough time to get up for an hour or so and go back again, the cats appreciate the extra feed 