Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a night ER nurse and absolutely love working nights. I'm in a small hospital in a small bush Alaska town and nights are so much more pleasant. Admin is gone, fewer people around, quieter, more freedom. I wouldn't go back to days here if they offered me a pay raise. !
Those working on the day & swing shifts are forever hoping someone will get fired on the nightshift, or quit, and they stand in line to fill the next opening. I can go months without ever locking horns with anyone in Administration, sheer heaven! I haven't even met the new Administrator, wouldn't know him if he walked thru the facility some night!
At home, I built 4 sound-proofed walls around my bed, with a door, and a soundproofed ceiling, I call it my womb! The window is my room is blacked out, and, yes, it gets a bit confusing, at times, to wake up and it's pitch black!
I never sleep well, when I set an alarm clock before I go to bed, and with working the night shift I never have to set an alarm. What's the chance of oversleeping, if I go to bed at 9-10am, and I'd sleep until I was due to work the next day at 10pm!!! Hasn't happened yet! Although it did happen to a co-worker of mine who woke up one night at 10:30pm!
Those working on the day & swing shifts are forever hoping someone will get fired on the nightshift, or quit, and they stand in line to fill the next opening. I can go months without ever locking horns with anyone in Administration, sheer heaven! I haven't even met the new Administrator, wouldn't know him if he walked thru the facility some night!
At home, I built 4 sound-proofed walls around my bed, with a door, and a soundproofed ceiling, I call it my womb! The window is my room is blacked out, and, yes, it gets a bit confusing, at times, to wake up and it's pitch black!
I never sleep well, when I set an alarm clock before I go to bed, and with working the night shift I never have to set an alarm. What's the chance of oversleeping, if I go to bed at 9-10am, and I'd sleep until I was due to work the next day at 10pm!!! Hasn't happened yet! Although it did happen to a co-worker of mine who woke up one night at 10:30pm!
I live in the Arctic so I have to black my windows out because we have 82 days where the Sun stays up 24 hours and then several months before and after those 82 days where the days are getting longer leading up to that time then when the Sun does finally set we only lose about nine minutes of Sun a day so it's a good several months of very long and bright days.
Now we're heading into the reversal of that. We're losing daylight every day and have three weeks to go before the Sun sets and stays set for 65 days. I get up to go to work and it's getting dark, I get off work and it's still several hours from daylight.
The Midnight Sun and nighttime noon can play merry havoc with the circadian rhythm here but with my windows blackened my room is very dark year round.
I worked nights last winter at a major department store / discounter stocking shelves. It was a crappy job, both in terms of pay and workload, but it sure paid for a heck of a lot of transmission fluid!
I chose to work night shift for primarily three reasons: 1) I am a natural night owl, long having accustomed myself to long nights on the internet until 5 or 6, and then sleeping until 12 or even 1), 2) It was winter, often bitterly cold in Duluth at any hour (though to my surprise we had one of our warmest winters, and a morning after work in early January felt like April), and 3) It was in my hometown, and I did not want people that I had lost contact with, who thought I would be somewhere far ahead, knowing where I actually "was".
It worked out OK to begin with (not so much the jobs but the hours), but then I would stay up even longer, well into the morning and even the afternoon. I would come home, physically exhausted but not ready to sleep, and lay on my bed surfing the web until 12...1...2...3. Then I would take an Ambien or two (which I still needed to fall asleep!) and wake up just before my shift started. One thing that aggravated the situation was that it was a part-time job with irregular shifts. I would be off for three days and then work four, for example. My sleep hours would then fluctuate widely, and once I slept (for once) a "normal" night's sleep the night before a shift! I arrived to most of my shifts, except my first few nights, feeling like I needed more sleep for the first hour or two. First break would start, I would drink some caffeinated beverage, and have a boost of energy that would last until lunch break, after which I progressively became more and more fatigued and lethargic, not a good thing for a job that requires constant concentration.
Needless to say, I was "made redundant" a few weeks or so after New Years' Day 2012.
I recently found a job in a foster care home for adults with traumatic brain injuries and other mental illnesses where I work from 3 pm - 11 pm. This has actually provided me with encouragement to normalize my sleep schedule, since I am decimated by 11, but often eat something my mom prepared for supper that night and stay up late, as I am now.
Generally, I sleep for about 5.5 - 6 hours, and I try to get the remaining 2 or 2.5 in a late morning nap, before running my errands and arriving at work. I work with one or two other staff (depending on the time), so it might not sound tiring, but it is, especially with my house supervisor. It's certainly more rewarding than the last one I had, though.
I've been working the nightshift for 11 years now, 10p-6a, and generally sleep from 9a-5p or 10a-6p, and I love it, and love it more every year! I don't know what normal is anymore!
The people I work with, as well, have been working the nightshift for years, too, and they can't fathom working during the daytime, ever again! Me too!
There seems to be something we share in common, but what?
If you know some nightshifters, and who love that lifestyle, what do you think characterizes these people and what distinguishes them from "normal" people?
Myself, I feel sorry for people who work days, and contrary to the reports that nightshift workers live shorter lives, I think they're wrong, wrong, wrong about that! With far less stress, you'd think we'd live 10 years longer! No daytime traffic jams to deal with, for one!
I like nightshift because that is when I feel the most awake. I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. Getting up at 5 am to go to work is like daily torture. But, you put me on night shift, I can get up at 5pm to go to work, I can work 14 hours a day and be happy. Day time is for sleeping! I'm nocturnal!
I've been working the nightshift for 11 years now, 10p-6a, and generally sleep from 9a-5p or 10a-6p, and I love it, and love it more every year! I don't know what normal is anymore!
The people I work with, as well, have been working the nightshift for years, too, and they can't fathom working during the daytime, ever again! Me too!
There seems to be something we share in common, but what?
If you know some nightshifters, and who love that lifestyle, what do you think characterizes these people and what distinguishes them from "normal" people?
Myself, I feel sorry for people who work days, and contrary to the reports that nightshift workers live shorter lives, I think they're wrong, wrong, wrong about that! With far less stress, you'd think we'd live 10 years longer! No daytime traffic jams to deal with, for one!
My husband is this way, he loves it and hates days with a passion. He feels sorry for me because I want to work days. I know though why he loves nights.
1. NO PEOPLE to deal with. He can't stand to be around many people.
2. Less work
3. He can pretty much do as he wants as long as he gets his job done.
4. It's peaceful
5. Like night better then day
Night time gives me a suuurge of energy! I love the night time. Daylight, especially early in the morning really tires me, ever since I can remember.
I think being energized at night for me has to do with the fact that I feel more free to do whatever I want, there are no restrictions for me, I get my creative energy early in the mornings like 2-3'ish.. I love it!
My husband worked nights for YEARS and loved it, he wants to go back but we have a young daughter now so its harder with me working day shift.. He loved the fact that all the big wigs were never there, he could his work in peace (911 dispatcher) and he's generally not a day person. He worked 7pm-7am 3 1/2 days a week. Now he's 7 am -7pm and HATES it.. so much
Myself on the other hand LOVES getting up at 5 am ( Im a pastry chef so gotta be up early to bake the bread!) But I seriously love it I feel most useful from 4 am -11 am.. after that I just drag..Useless.. Which doesn't work well when I frequently work from 6 am to sometimes 8 at night..
Yes, I work nights and have for many years. Ever since I was in Germany and discovered ROLLADEN! Mostly it started out of practicality. We had children, couldn't afford babysitters. Later it became a habit and my shifts went to 3x a week 7-7 and then I was done. It required a husband who pitched in and did an equal (sometimes maybe a little more) amount of the work - washing clothes, cooking dinner, getting the children out, etc. I like it for many of the reasons other people do-less hassles, sick people should be sleeping (here, wake up so I can give you this sleeping pill!!), hardly ever see any of the brass. I hate it because most of the classes and meetings are scheduled for the day (duh!!) The poster from Alaska reminded me of the Robin Williams movie - INSOMNIA. That movie scared the h#%$ out of my husband!! Fortunately, with proper preparation, sleeping can be accomplished during the day and you won't need to go around in a semi-psychotic state!
I got a ref for an earlier post, but was sitting here, everything outside utterly quiet and dark, and its just past midnight. I feel relaxed and inspired. I could work on my needlepoint or write something or read someone else's story or hunt around on tv. But with no interruptions. I really think if I'd done what I now regret not doing and tried this one job, I would have found out I loved it since much of it is working after hours and with selective people. But I was young and stupid then, alas.
I've gotten worse about waking up, since I generally hit my stride around midnight to two, and fall asleep around five when its cold. Maybe later when it isn't. But I don't bother with alarms since I'm able to sleep right through several.
I once wrote a song called Night Magic, and wish I could remember it, since it so well defined how there is a special quality about night which day with all its rushing and people takes away. I also like talking to friends late at night, and once in a while call someone and we finally quit when the phone is about to. But I'm not sure I'd like it so much if someone human was around to be with me, unless they honored my corner.
I think some people are just afraid of quiet solitude and don't want to see what it tells them, and they make it sound like those of us who like it over people are somehow 'wrong'.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
