Just been offered a new job which will involve both rigids & artics. Trouble is, it’s nights. Mon to Fri 9pm until done (7am at latest)
It’s doing 6-9 silent deliveries per night, so is a mix of driving & OW
Any tips on how to adjust & cope with this shift would be greatly appreciated!!!
Cheers, Nez
Ear plugs and black out curtains work for me buddy! Don’t sit up watching day time TV get yourself to bed, night shift is very tiring, best of luck…
Hi. Firstly congratulations on the job offer. There’s many different ways of dealing with working nights. IMO it revolves around having a routine involving loads of sleep! For some, this will be on returning home at eg 0800. Others have a nap and then sleep later in the afternoon. You must find out what suits you and this will often be affected by small children in the house etc. Weekends can be tricky as can holidays. But you have to find your way of dealing with it.
One very important bit of advice is to stop if you feel tired during your shift. You’ll find that tiredness may sweep over you with little warning at first. You must give in and have a power nap and/or a walk round.
I have heard of drivers who never get used to nights but I know of many more, me included, who have done it consistently with few problems.
I wish you the very best with this and I’m sure there’ll be more advice on it’s way. Pete 
I was a baker for 30 years so have worked all of the mad hours . Its normal to be very tired between 02.00 and 04.00 AM so if possible pull over and sleep. Sleeping during the day is not really natural ,you wont get into such a deep sleep so you will need more time in bed .You will most likely find yourself gett ing up for a piddle 2 or 3 times as your body doesnt slow down properly. Just be sure not to fall asleep at the wheel be late or be known as unreliable and all the rest just dont drive tired.
Whenever I’ve worked nights it’s tended to be permanent, not as part of a shift system.
I found that the radio on constantly at low volume helped stop me being woken by slight, incidental noises.
In fact it helped so much that I can’t get to sleep now without turning the telly down & setting the sleep mode to 60mins.
Hello mate
I Have just started on nights last week will be full time nights after 20th and I seem to be ok when at work until about 2or3 am then I get a blip if you know what I mean 
so I normaly stop and have a cup of tea and a walk about for 10 mins . that seems to work for me . The one thing that I cant do is go to bed as soon as I get in the house ( after the 1 hr drive home ) so I have to come down a bit normaly anther cup of tea and 1 hr on the net checking my email and reading the news then by that time im ready for my bed .normaly about 7/8am then i can sleep till about 2pm But this week we have road works right across the road from the house so its been a pain . Another thing I do is have a Redbull at about 10pm but only one as its not good for you to have too many of them things .
But I have to say that between 2am and 3 am i do think to myself what the heck am I doing out here at this time lol and ive only done a few nights now I think the worse part for me driving a tipper is having to get out of a nice warm cab at night to wrestle with a topsheet before loading or unloading 
as others have already said get into a routine and stick to it , you get used to it quite quickly but not everyone likes it . for example i’ve completely missed what little good weather we’ve had this year due to being asleep and weekends are a problem sometimes , i try to keep my routine going and go to bed at the time i would during the week .
i much prefer nights as the roads are quieter than during the day time but i hate the fact you do get random roadworks closing motorways off quite alot … dam annoying it is . 
Thanks for the tips everyone. I think earplugs are a def must (got a 3yr old!) and I think I’ll try going to bed once I get home, hopefully will then get a little family time when teenagers home from school and after eve meal.
Weekends will be a tough one. I’ll just have to try a few options until I find the best compromise.
Cheers, Nez
Eye shades or blacked out room is a must for many as the constant light can cause headaches
Getting that work/home/sleep balance is going to be that more difficult with a 3 year old around !!
Don’t be afraid to say NO to driving (car or truck) if you think that safety might be compromised because I’m sure that 3 year old would want ‘daddy’ and everyone else to be kept safe
Thanks Rog, wise words indeed!
The bedrooms blacked out fine & being an ex-biker I have a plentiful supply of good quality earplugs 
I don’t start until October, so I’ll let you all know how it goes once I’m (hopefully) settled in
Nez
i ve worked nights for three years…family dictates what i do with school runs etc…my problem is weekends,i work mon -fri nights,finish 4-5 am sat morning,now the problems start. have too much sleep saturday day and you wont sleep saturday night,have too little sleep saturday day and you re falling asleep on the couch by 7.30 pm…then sunday i feel absolutely shatterd all day because my bodys used to sleeping in the day,but then i have to stay up quite late sunday night to try and get a good sleep ready for monday night. it didnt affect me for the first 12 months, but weekends are soo tiring for me.its like being jet lagged at weekends.
I do not do nights as I am unable to stay awake after 3am my bed calls me … I would advise the day before you start your nights go to bed as late as possible so that you start fresh ie if you start monday night on the sunday night go to bed as late as poss to get up as late as poss monday day time .
REF : RED BULL … I shop at sainsburys and get there blue bolt 6 cans for £2.50 taste the same as red bull but they charge £1.35 for 1 can of red bull.
Congrats on the job fingers cross it suits you.
Disco
Thanks Clarkyboy, that’s the one thing I’m dreading…how to deal with the weekends! If I didn’t have the family, I’d probably keep to the same pattern at the weekends as through the week, but that obviously isn’t an option. Family time must be a priority at the weekend, so I’ll have to try to achieve some sort of compromise between the demands of my little girl & my desire to sleep LOL 
I agree Disco, that was what I was thinking. In fact, we fly back from holiday on Thursday night, so will be driving back through the wee hours of Friday morning, so I may just try to get into a pattern straight away…sleep during the day Friday then staying up late Friday, Saturday & Sunday night just to get me started.
Fortunately, I wont be spending the first week alone as I will be buddying with another driver to learn the first route & how to operate their handheld, etc.
Cheers, Nez
dont stay up all weekend…enjoy your last one feeling human…stay up late sunday night,have a lie in monday,then in the afternoon go for a quick snooze,i find with nights its not the quantity of sleep i get its how close to the next shift i have it i.e in at 5 am sleep til midday= 7hrs.back in work at 5pm or
in at 5 am quick brew wind down etc,see kids when they get up,take them to school 7.45 home 8 a.m,watch news quick brew bed 8.30,7 hrs sleep til half 3. for me the 2nd one works alot better because im gettin up closer to the shift.also im more tired so im getting a better quality sleep.just try what works best for you.
I did my first night shift last night - started at 5.30pm and finished at 2.
Not sure of a routine yet because it was through an agency and don’t know what shifts etc i will be doing next week (or even tonight lol)
Stayed up late Wednesday night and got up earlyish Thursday so i would be able to have a decent sleep before i left for work. Felt ok during the shift, if a little tired towards the end but used to feel like that on days too… Was knackered when i got home and couldn’t wait to get to bed. Probably could have slept for a fair bit longer this morning but got an appointment in a bit 
Good luck adjusting to nights, I’m keeping an eye on this post in case the agency offers me more nights so thanks to the others for their advice 
Good luck working nights. I took a night shift job 14 months ago and have just finished now I’ve notched up the magic 2 years!
Whilst I never had a problem doing the job - in fact I quite enjoyed the relatively empty roads - I never got used to sleeping in the day. Some days I’d sleep for a couple of hours, some I’d sleep for 12.
In the end, I just accepted that I’d never fully adjust and so slept when I was tired and usually had a kip for 45mins on my break. Some people don’t have problem with it, others do. Just a case of getting on with it really
Congratulations on the job and good luck.
Congrats on the job mate, hope you find a pattern that works for you on the weekends as family time is very important.
I had my first day at 3663 today. Just a normal 9AM to 4PM induction day at the depot so I just had a normal nights sleep last night. Problem is I need to be up for 4:30AM tomorrow morning, since I just had a normal nights sleep last night I’m not exactly tired right now but I need to get to bed early tonight to be up for 4:30