Thread: suggestions for working graveyards...

I worked nights for 20 years. No problem adjusting at all. In fact I have been working days now for about the last 7 years and still have trouble getting to bed at decent hour as I have grown accustom to being a night owl

i work from 11pm-7am for the last 8 years and love it.. but i maintain a very strict sleep schedule. I'm in bed at 8am wake up at 2pm and thats it.

I used to work in a hotel from 9pm to 5 am, then sleep from 6am to midday. After getting up I'd study all day and then do it again. No problems, and enjoyed it. I think if I were to do it again I'd try to get an easier job so I could read or do something for myself with the time.

I see a lot of people in Japan doing that shift - and they basically just veg out for the entire night.

Working stock at a supermarket.

my training schedule will be 11am-1pm then 5pm-9pm, so i will have to work at night forsure. as long as i can squeeze in 6 hours of sleep i can, my room is pitch black all the time as i have blacked with windows out with dark construction paper sheets and blinds of course.

Originally Posted by DeathMetalDremel

thanks x, ya the only thing im totally not willing to even consider is working at say timmy-ho's or dennys. no fast food oriented job. other than that im wide open to suggestion.

Security firms that provide security for corporations, institutions, banks, museums, malls etc are virtually always looking for people willing to work nights.

It can be boring I guess, but otoh if you get to walk around a lot, it might even be beneficial to your workout.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

A friend of mine drove a bread truck delivering to groceries and delis in No Jersey for 30 years. He loaded up around 3AM and got done around 10AM. He never got used to it. I went with him on his route once. I was shot for days. The trouble is that you work the graveyard 5 days a week and on the 2 you're off you try to go back to a 'normal' schedule. Anyway, hotels frequently hire desk clerks on the midnight to 8 shift.

My brother in law works nights exclusively as a maintenance technician.
He likes it, and gets through the weekens by sleeping late on saturday and sunday , and not turning in until way past midnight IIRC

Originally Posted by DeathMetalDremel

my training schedule will be 11am-1pm then 5pm-9pm, so i will have to work at night forsure. as long as i can squeeze in 6 hours of sleep i can, my room is pitch black all the time as i have blacked with windows out with dark construction paper sheets and blinds of course.

I've heard it said that your body needs 3 or 4 , 2 hour, uninterrupted sleep sessions so try to aim for at least one 4 hour stretch and a 2 hour stretch.

I'm sure we con our selves into having more sleep than we need. I have always said I need 8 hours sleep. When I think about it, I never got that in school and still today I function happily on less than that. If I think I'm going to be tired, I'm tired.

Anyway, I reckon working nights is an extremely curious way of getting more, or better, training time. I'm not quite sure how you figure it will work out in your favor. Whether you do a 09-17 or a 12-08 you're still in work for 8 hours and you still need how ever much sleep you need.

Well, the human being can cope with less sleep. I am a parent of 2 kids. If you had kids and helped your wife deal with the nights, then I'm sure you know how it is

The thing is, while we can trick ourselves into having less sleep, and even trick ourselves into thinking we are fine, we really aren't. Our reaction times go up and our thinking processes get slower. While we think we are fine we operate with reduced efficiency.

8 hours of sleep per day is indeed more than required for some people. But in general, on average 6 hours is needed for your brain and body to do all the things it normally does while you are asleep so that you can awaken fully rested.

I know some people really need less. An older friend of mine slept only 3 to 4 hours per night at maximum. The difference with you or I is that if he goes to sleep withotu setting an alarm clock, he awakens automatically, fully rested, 3 hours later. His body always has. If you need an alarm clock, well, you're not fully rested.

Since the OP is going to work out physically hard for 6 or 7 hours every day, he will need a decent amount of sleep. If I were him and that training schedul is fixed, I'd try and get an afternoon nap in between 2 training sessions.