or does anyone else have trouble adjusting there sleeping pattern after finishing work ?,4 am and wide awake
Not just you, week off this week and i finally admitted defeat and was in the kitchen coffee in hand at 5am! 
Yup and the older you get the worse it gets, cos after the initial deep sleep the inevitable aches and pains of a life of hard work won’t allow you to catch up, hope that gives you some comfort 
No way could i work those alternating shifts some employers operate (not for the pointy shoes mind who work days and are always long gone by 3pm on a Friday) where one week you’re on nights then the following week days etc, don’t know how they cope.
Juddian:
Yup and the older you get the worse it gets, cos after the initial deep sleep the inevitable aches and pains of a life of hard work won’t allow you to catch up, hope that gives you some comfortNo way could i work those alternating shifts some employers operate (not for the pointy shoes mind who work days and are always long gone by 3pm on a Friday) where one week you’re on nights then the following week days etc, don’t know how they cope.
How do rotating shift workers cope?
They don’t. They die early.
time.com/3657434/night-work-early-death/
.
Happy Christmas all.
Franglais:
How do rotating shift workers cope?
They don’t. They die early..
Happy Christmas all.
It ain’t just rotating shift workers who die early in THIS job, trust me…I could name at least 10 I have known overer the many years I’ve done it, mostly trampers… I’ve known many drivers with very short retirements. 
Be warned !!!, … (or don’t be,.I ain’t fussed).
The majority of those guys are the ones who spent their carreer going at it like a bull at a gate, rushing around, short and dodgy sleep patterns, eating crap and at irregular intervals, work/sleep patterns, twinned with working long days every day for about 30 + years.
This is one of if not THE main reason that I approach the job as I do as an employed driver.
After me running like a ■■■■ idiot when I was younger as an owner driver.
My theory is putting myself in an early grave for myself is one thing, but doing it for some employer who won’t thank you for it,.and in real terms thinks ■■■■ all of you (as most today) is another.
So in this job I rarely get stressed,.I don’t succumb to being pushed, I try and sleep and eat properly, and maxing out is an option… not a routine formality.
At the same time getting the job done as best as I can.
I have a long, happy and eventful retirement planned in a few years after I leave all this crap. 
Back on thread…On my 4 on 3 off pattern,.I’m still up early on my days off, was up at 0545 this morning and yesterday. 
As for hols, first few days the same, but then I get into the way of lying in (if I can sleep with my dodgy ■■■■ arm. …re Juddian and his aches and pains theory) then it makes it that much harder starting back in after hols are done.
^^^ I’ve know many who never made retirement before some horrible illness hit them and in some cases finished them (car transporters mainly), including several notable suicides by those i knew personally, blokes whom no one would ever have imagined would end their own lives in such a way, we all work with people who are seriously depressive where it wouldn’t be a suprise if they dropped dead before your eyes but the suicides i’m thinking of you would never have known.
I’ve been there by the way, not suicidal but exhausted and going downhill without being aware i’d become part of the machine (Wifey saw it happening and stopped me, just one more thing i’m grateful to her for), running fully on autopilot and heading for trouble.
By all means work hard, this industry can pay well for those who can graft, but use those earnings wisely so you can slow down in your autumn years and not become just another bloody statistic still trying to finance a false lifestyle.
^^^^
Yep, horrible illnesses as you say, I’ve known a couple of drivers who have not lasted long at the end of their working life down to those, but no suicides tbh. 
The cause of early death in the job I was on about is more self inflicted.garnished with a bit of idiocy.
I can count at least 4 that work for my lot who are prime, (and most probably definite) candidates, they never listen so just let em get on with it as far as I care.
No one considers the broader aspects of driver health and welfare. When approaching our sixties we ought to be doing less shifts and /or shorter hours. I sometimes asked older workers what they would do once retired ,too many hadnt even thought about it. Its in the news now about lorries stuck for a period of days with no facilities ,that has been common place for so many people but hasnt made the news.
keepthefaith:
or does anyone else have trouble adjusting there sleeping pattern after finishing work ?,4 am and wide awake
on the plus side of getting up early was in Tescos at 530 this morning finished off all of the Christmas shopping no ques and got some browney points off her indoors 
I can’t sleep past 5ish, mind you, I’ve always been an early riser even as a kid.
When I was furloughed for 3 months I thought I would have been having regular lay ins after a few weeks but no, still waking at the 5-6am every morning [emoji24]
Franglais:
“How do rotating shift workers cope?”
They don’t. They die early.
time.com/3657434/night-work-early-death/
.
Happy Christmas all.
[/quote]
Even though that article is dated 2015, we were told all about this back in the 1990’s when studying Circadian Rhythms (aka our Biological Clock), so the evidence has been there for a very long time. Not that this ever makes it into any H&S course you’ll ever find
robroy:
Franglais:
How do rotating shift workers cope?
They don’t. They die early..
Happy Christmas all.It ain’t just rotating shift workers who die early in THIS job, trust me…I could name at least 10 I have known overer the many years I’ve done it, mostly trampers… I’ve known many drivers with very short retirements.
The majority of those guys are the ones who spent their carreer going at it like a bull at a gate, rushing around, short and dodgy sleep patterns, eating crap and at irregular intervals, work/sleep patterns, twinned with working long days every day for about 30 + years.
This is one of if not THE main reason that I approach the job as I do as an employed driver.
After me running like a [zb] idiot when I was younger as an owner driver.
My theory is putting myself in an early grave for myself is one thing, but doing it for some employer who won’t thank you for it,.and in real terms thinks [zb] all of you (as most today) is another.So in this job I rarely get stressed,.I don’t succumb to being pushed, I try and sleep and eat properly, and maxing out is an option… not a routine formality.
At the same time getting the job done as best as I can.
I have a long, happy and eventful retirement planned in a few years after I leave all this crap.Back on thread…On my 4 on 3 off pattern,.I’m still up early on my days off, was up at 0545 this morning and yesterday.
As for hols, first few days the same, but then I get into the way of lying in (if I can sleep with my dodgy [zb] arm.
I think the sleeping and eating properly (i.e. healthily and at regular times) is the significant factor, rather than the long hours. Every few days I receive notification of the death of an ex-police colleague, many of whom never made it past their 60s (a good few didn’t even got past their 50s). Like me, for the most part they normally worked 8 hour shifts, but they were arranged on a particularly punishing 28 day rota, with frequent changes (every few days) from Late shift to Early shift and back again, then seven nights straight off before starting all over again, with meal breaks being taken - and interrupted - at a moment’s notice (or not taken at all) and far too many fry-ups for breakfast and burgers/kebabs/chips for other meals.