What is the best time to hit the sack,as soon as you come in the door,or wait until later in the day,that is if you can stay awake long enough.
I think the airline pilots use a formulae,what with the time zones,and the effect on the body clock and it`s natural settings.
At least there is time in the day to mooch around the town and sort out small things that need doing.
It really depends on your ability to just drop off or how much sleep you need.
Some people can survive on very little sleep. Other’s only just function on 8 hours uninterrupted sleep.
Blackout blinds/curtains are a must. And if you live 2 miles from Bristol Airport on the flightpath, get some earplugs 
The last time i did it was with Arla,on supermarket milk cages,i will let the body tell me,and see how it goes. 
I always try to stay awake when I finish work and go to bed so I wake up just before starting work again. Like a normal day routine, just shifted back by 9 hours.
Your ■■■■■■ if you find you can’t drop off though.
Then it can becomes 24 hours with no sleep,and one needs to be in top form when driving at night.
I used to go bed a bit later, so I’d only been up about 2hrs before work, that way, I was less likely to be tired IN work.
This also worked because my missus got home from work at that time too, which meant we still had a bit of time together.
I treated it like days, you wouldn’t wake up at 1am for a 7am start, so why wake at 1pm for a 7pm start?
Unfortunately for me, I have a social life at weekend, and that was probably the end of nights for me, as I’d get home saturday morning, and not go bed until early hours of sunday morning, then I’d still be up early enough to go for a bike ride on Sunday, then I’d be trying to switch back to night mode Monday.
If you do nights, you’ve got to live nights ALL THE TIME.
I can now do odd weeks of nights, but can’t do / have no interest in permanent nights.
Good idea.
Sleep when come in works best for me. Sleep before start never worked for me. Nightshifts just rubbish, no good if you have kids. A few months after doing nightshift continuosly a zombie like state accurs. 
Nightshift workers die younger. 
I find it works best if I go to bed 10hrs before the next shift to get up 2hrs before start time (1hr to get there 
). Sometimes I just can’t get my mind to switch off so don’t worry if I don’t get to sleep, just read for a while then turn the lights out so at least my body gets a rest.
I usually get in around 6.30am have brekkie, and spend a bit of time with the missus till 7.30am then sleep til around 3pm ish on a normal day, however this week theyve decided to resurface the road so no amount of ear plugs is going help still at least ive got the chance of getting some shut eye later
I get in between 4 and 5 o’clock and go to bed a couple of hours later. I usually get up between 13:00 and 14:00 the leave for work again about 18:45. I stick to that sleep pattern 7 days a week.
whenever ive done nights ive gone to bed as soon as iv`e got home.usually wake up about mid-afternoon
generally i sleep 2 or 3 times a day when im on certain nights. usually when i get in the door. sleep for a few ours. get up do some stuff then eat and back to bed for a few hours. then when i take my first break which is usually an hour and a half i sleep
only total about 7 or 8 hours in all tbh.
I’ve always found I get sleepy for around an hour at 8-9 hours after getting up, and then again but more so after I’ve been up 16-17 hours.
If I’m on a night run where I know there’s a 2-3 hour POA window at the remote depot, I’ll try and set my arrival there at around the day’s “sleepy zone” with me getting up at the appropriate time relative to what I’m doing, rather than the shift start/length times. 
Eg. if I’m leaving the local depot at 8pm and arriving at Fradley Park @ midnight, I’ll be getting up at around 4pm for that particular shift (6-6:30pm start), thus setting me up for the break. Getting back to base at 6-7am, home by 8, and in bed by 9am (having just done the school run as well!) works for me. 
This isn’t a good job to try and “burn the candle at both ends” since falling asleep at the wheel has got to be as bad as drink driving! 
I hate those firms that expect you to put your tacho on break whilst handballing the load off. I unload, and then go on break, leaving an hour later than scheduled as a result. I don’t get asked back of course, but I don’t care. Marking a break “to be legal” (when you should be actually taking a break to take a break!) is plain daft, and leads to unsafe driving when you’re on the return leg at 6am and starting to hallucinate!
I worked nights for many years & once I got used to nights I thoroughly enjoyed it. I used to work 6 start times over a 6 week rota & would go to bed as soon as I got in & had what ever I wanted to eat or drink. I did sometimes have to put a blanket on the inside of the curtains to keep the room dark but it was managable.
Several I worked with used to brag about being up all day & grabbing a bit of sleep before coming to work but I used to respect my need for sleep, even some weekends I’d sleep as if on nights if I felt I needed it.
BB
Nights - ah the joy!
I tend to only work occasional nights but I find I sleep more or less when I get in. Usually up 2-3 hours before start.
I like night shifts, but I’m not sure they like me very much…
commonrail:
whenever ive done nights ive gone to bed as soon as iv`e got home.usually wake up about mid-afternoon
That’s what I do and if I feel tired on the road, pull in for 20 mins.
Been on nights since august and i love it. Usually start between 6 and 8 and get done between 2 and 6. When i get in Im straight to bed, then i usually wake up between 11 and 2.
I finish between 5 and 7 and start between 7 and 8
I go to bed between 7.30 and 8.30 and get up at 5 I do the same every day. It works for me, been doing it for 10 year now.
I cannot go straight to bed when I finish, as now usually have a couple of hrs chilling out, then go to bed and sleep for around 7 hrs, On nights I get home maybe 3am I will stop up till 0545 when the wife gets up for work, then sleep till around 2pm.
I am lucky in the fact I can sleep through an earthquake, when tired.