Mike Erickson
Amateur
I know a lot of people have issues with working a graves/overnight shift and then trying to have a functional life on the days off, so I thought this thread could be a collection of ways we all deal with this, as well as possible medical research on the same.
Consistency seems to be important with this. A good friend of mine worked for an agency that would rotate days/nights on something like a 6 week schedule. It was brutal for those guys. On the flip side, a lot of guys seem to need a break from working nights because after 6 months or so, their ability to sleep during the day starts to fade.
My main concern is helping guys deal with the health issues related to working nights, both in terms of staying safe on shift, as well as long-term health, as there has been a lot of research showing how damaging night shift is to your body. I, and a lot of the other guys I work with, are on graves partially because it gives us the best family time, but I don't want to sacrifice years of family time with an early death or disabling health condition. My dad is pushing 80 and still able to get out and go hunting, work on the house, etc. and I'm trying hard not to end up like my childhood neighbor who spent almost 30 years on the job, and moves like someone 20 years older than he is.
I'm 39 and have been working graves for about six months on a 4x10hr shift schedule. I'm most likely going to be doing the same for another five months, unless I get moved to another shift.
On my work days, I get around 6 hours of sleep during the day, and try to get in a workout right before I go to work. When I get off, I try to go straight home, and straight to bed.
On my Friday, I get off around 8am and will usually try to stay up all day. This gives me a decent amount of family time and helps me get up at a reasonable time for my second day off. On my third day I'll try to sleep in as late as I can, then stay up until around 4am. I try to get a full 8 hours of sleep, spend a few house with the family, then head off to work at night.
It took a few weeks to get used to staying up during the day after my last work day, but like the intermittent fasting thing, once I got into it, it got easier. Caffeine helps. So does making that my weekly range trip day.
As far as the shift itself, my Sgt. is fine with us coming in to take a short nap, as proposed in some of the recent FSRC emails. The only limitations are no napping in the cars (for obvious reasons) even in what might look to be "safe" places, and no abusing the informal nap policy. Again, caffeine, but I cut it off around 3am so it doesn't mess with getting to sleep.
On the tracking side of things, I think I might pony up for an HRV program, and try to get to the doc a few times a year for bloodwork and general monitoring to see how my body is doing and make sure I'm not just getting used to being in a shitty state.
So, what have you tried or seen that's worked, failed, worked temporarily, etc?
Consistency seems to be important with this. A good friend of mine worked for an agency that would rotate days/nights on something like a 6 week schedule. It was brutal for those guys. On the flip side, a lot of guys seem to need a break from working nights because after 6 months or so, their ability to sleep during the day starts to fade.
My main concern is helping guys deal with the health issues related to working nights, both in terms of staying safe on shift, as well as long-term health, as there has been a lot of research showing how damaging night shift is to your body. I, and a lot of the other guys I work with, are on graves partially because it gives us the best family time, but I don't want to sacrifice years of family time with an early death or disabling health condition. My dad is pushing 80 and still able to get out and go hunting, work on the house, etc. and I'm trying hard not to end up like my childhood neighbor who spent almost 30 years on the job, and moves like someone 20 years older than he is.
I'm 39 and have been working graves for about six months on a 4x10hr shift schedule. I'm most likely going to be doing the same for another five months, unless I get moved to another shift.
On my work days, I get around 6 hours of sleep during the day, and try to get in a workout right before I go to work. When I get off, I try to go straight home, and straight to bed.
On my Friday, I get off around 8am and will usually try to stay up all day. This gives me a decent amount of family time and helps me get up at a reasonable time for my second day off. On my third day I'll try to sleep in as late as I can, then stay up until around 4am. I try to get a full 8 hours of sleep, spend a few house with the family, then head off to work at night.
It took a few weeks to get used to staying up during the day after my last work day, but like the intermittent fasting thing, once I got into it, it got easier. Caffeine helps. So does making that my weekly range trip day.
As far as the shift itself, my Sgt. is fine with us coming in to take a short nap, as proposed in some of the recent FSRC emails. The only limitations are no napping in the cars (for obvious reasons) even in what might look to be "safe" places, and no abusing the informal nap policy. Again, caffeine, but I cut it off around 3am so it doesn't mess with getting to sleep.
On the tracking side of things, I think I might pony up for an HRV program, and try to get to the doc a few times a year for bloodwork and general monitoring to see how my body is doing and make sure I'm not just getting used to being in a shitty state.
So, what have you tried or seen that's worked, failed, worked temporarily, etc?