Do you work nights?

[StonehamPark]

I work nights and wonder how it affects other people.
If so, what industry do you work in, how does it affect your life in general, do you prefer to work nights etc..?

Nights Being: Outside of regular office house. i.e 4pm - Midnight. Or 10pm - 6am etc.

 

[KneeOn]

define nights.

i work the "night" shift, but that means working until 1am or maybe 2am if we're exceptionally slow. harldy working through the night.

 

[JamesAndTheGiantHead]

As of only recently. Novel at first and seemingly easier money, now highly dull and drawn out. Thankfully I only do one night a week.

Although having said that, doing just the one night a week might be worse for my sleep pattern.

And my hours are 9.30pm till 7.30am and I'm in care work.

 

[sydney]

used to do nights in the food industry then later on in the exhibition industry ........you just get on with it don't ya , does feck yer social life a bit but the money should make up for that ..........my mrs. does 2 nights a week as a nurse(at least that's what she tells me )

 

[pauli cee]

used to do nights in the food industry then later on in the exhibition industry ........you just get on with it don't ya , does feck yer social life a bit but the money should make up for that ..........my mrs. does 2 nights a week as a nurse(at least that's what she tells me )

strange, that......

 

[kevo]

It depends to some extent on shift patterns. I used to do a job which was four nights on, four nights off (long nights, mind - 8pm to 6am, tho you could usually sneak off early as there was no-one there to supervise us or tell us what to do - one big advantage!).

The good thing about the four on/four off pattern was that you would have in effect four-day long 'weekends' (although not necessarily over a weekend) and if you took just four nights off, that would be 12 consecutive shifts off - almost a fortnight's holiday. They had to do it that way to make nights seem attractive.

The downside was you were almost permanently jet-lagged and tired, not knowing whether you should be awake or be asleep. I read somewhere that it takes your body clock four days to adjust to changing sleep patterns. So this meant that in my case just as I was getting used to being awake at night, I had to get used to being awake during the day again and vice-versa. Was always a problem when the last night-shift finished - do you try to stay up or do you go to sleep but force yourself to wake up early?

The other thing with working nights is that it messes with your social life. There is always stuff on that you can't go to or occasions when you can't drink because you have to go to work later. You do feel you're missing out sometimes.

I also remember doing a bit of research and finding that people who did night shifts over an extended period of time had a shorter life expetency! I survived three years of it and to be honest was glad to get back amongst the living, normal people at the end of it (there is something very strange about heading home to sleep when everyone else is setting off to work...)

 

[banjo]

Yep 4 0n 4 off nights done it for 10 years now.

 

[beardy gull]

Yep 4 0n 4 off nights done it for 10 years now.

same here. 9pm - 7am. call centre work (I know). Couldn't go back to 9 - 5 Mon - Fri

 

[Phat Baz 68]

I used to work nights in A&E in T/Wells and The Royal London in Whitechapel.
Lots of genuine people who needed help but also the time wasting dregs of society.
PLEASURE & NIGHTMARE !!!!

 

[doogie004]

wife works 3 nights aweek leave at 9pm home at 7.45am she has done that for about 16 years in a childrens home i run my own cab firm so work all hours

 

[BINNEYS BOOTS]

Been doing nights for over 20 years now. Work 6pm to 6am Mon to Thursday and a few hours Friday's early evening. Boss let's me come in late for evening games.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

I do a shift pattern that includes two night shifts every ten days. Not enough to completely mess up the body clock. As said above, I could never go back to the 9-5.

 

[Without Limits]

I cover nights quite a bit at Gatwick. It can be great and more relaxed as no managers and you normally get some down time. On the busy nights tho can be more tiresome than a busy day.

Hard to sleep on day before starting a night or run of nights so very tired the end of shift. Other than that and eating times messed up so a loss of appetite ok.

 

[matt_32510]

I do 2 days and 2 nights then 4 off, don't mind the night shifts but they can drag a bit

 

[Barrow Boy]

I worked 3-shift for 33 years,
5 Days 0700 to 1500
3 days off
5 Afternoons 1500 to 2300
3 days off
5 Nights 2300 to 0700
4 days off
It was a production facility and I worked on one of five shifts operating this system virtually 24/7.
We worked to established manning levels so if people were off for Hols/lieu days/sick we were offered either 12 hr nights or 12 hr days. The pay was good and you could nearly double your monthly salary if you worked permanent 12 hr shifts (which was what most of us did).

The positives,
Good money
Plenty of time off, great when your kids are growing up.

The negatives,
Screwed up metabolism and body clock through constantly turning your body round from days to nights and visa versa.
Being as ratty as hell when working nights (just ask the wife!)

I took early retirement 30 months ago and still can't get back to a normal sleep cycle (check the time of this post).
I'm not complaining, it was my choice to work shift and it gave me a very good standard of living and security for 33 years. I was 56 when I got the chance to retire, which I grabbed with both hands as I'd seen too many guys work shift right up to 65 then pop their clogs within a year or two of retiring. I left with full redundancy and a bloody good pension, but all this came at a price.
My advice to anyone contemplating working nights would be to give it a go but don't do it for a long duration, the money's good but it takes a toll on your body.

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

I work 0400-1100, then come home to care for my disabled wife
Sort of nights, I guess

 

[Peever]

I work a 3 week rotation that is 7 days (9am-7/8/9pm), 7 nights (5pm-2/3am) and 7 off. So its not a full on "night shift" but working as a manager in the restaurant industry leaves you wired afterwards. So when working nights I usually am up till 5 or 6am and will sleep till 1 or 2pm. When I have to turn around to days its a pain but I get used to it. If I could I would work just nights as I prefer them. In the summer I tend to work even longer hours as we double-triple out business. But I am on salary so its a bit of a kick in the teeth sometimes. Working 40 hours in a week or 60....cheque is still the same

 

[SussexHoop]

Am currently working 8pm - 4am 7 days a week to help meet some deadlines. Last weekend was the 1st break I've had for weeks and we've got a few more weeks to go.

It's hard but I've gone from being a poor sleeper to someone who can sleep for 7-8 hours without waking.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I used to work nights in A&E in T/Wells and The Royal London in Whitechapel.
Lots of genuine people who needed help but also the time wasting dregs of society.
PLEASURE & NIGHTMARE !!!!

I've done nights all over, usually 8.30pm to 9.30am. By far the worst was A&E at the Whittington in Archway.

I find the worst bit is trying to adapt sleep patterns back to normal afterwards, especially when I used to do weeks of nights. Now its thankfully only 4 at a time and, because I'm more senior, I often get an hour or two's kip in the middle of the night (makes the drive home a lot less dicey!).

 

[Mellotron]

same here. 9pm - 7am. call centre work (I know). Couldn't go back to 9 - 5 Mon - Fri

Who the f*** are you calling at 5am?!