Shift work - Strategies for sleep

[Paul H]

I've recently started working shifts, of which one week in three is a night shift 4 x 8pm to 6am.  I'm fine getting enough sleep before the first by staying up late the night before and sleeping in.  I like the shifts themselves, having the mornings to myself and sleeping in the afternoon.  But I'm struggling with what to do at the end of the week, it's taking me three days to get back to sleeping at night, I feel rough and generally run down.  Part of the appeal of this job was the four day week, but there's no point in that if I spend three of them recovering. The job itself isn't physically or mentally hard, I have no problems on the day shifts.
So, what have those of you who have worked shifts done?  Did you find something that worked or was it always a struggle?
Thanks

[Polar Bear]

Perhaps you'd be better sleeping soon after shift and waking when you are well rested in the afternoon.   My son who has been working rotating shifts for over a decade does this.

[Paul H]

Perhaps you'd be better sleeping soon after shift and waking when you are well rested in the afternoon.   My son who has been working rotating shifts for over a decade does this.

Yes. I've considered this, except the mornings are such a great time to go for a ride
Do you know what your son does at the end of a night shift week? How he gets back to sleeping at night after sleeping mornings?
Thanks

[Polar Bear]

He stays awake all day and flakes out mid evening.

To complicate matters:   He's currently doing two jobs, a 9 to 5 Monday to Friday and a 4 on, 4 off nights.   He is usually well and truly whacked by the end of the nights  but he does similar every summer when there is no domestic football.    Earns enough money to feed his premier league and european football away fan habit in three months.   

Come September he'll go back onto rotating shifts.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Routine is important. This means meals, clothing and other things like showers.

So you need to establish a whole bedtime and waking up routine, then use the same routine whether you are going to bed at 8am or 11pm. Ditto for the getting up. If you would normally have a savoury meal, shower, watch TV in your PJs, then go to bed, then that has to be your bedtime routine. It can be hard to do this if it is 9am, but it is important to give yourself a routine that can be followed.

[hellymedic]

The nicest thing I did when on night shifts was collecting freshly-baked croissants from Tesco, having a leisurely breakfast, then going to bed.

Morning ARE nice for riding but you need to rest after working.

[Paul H]

Morning ARE nice for riding but you need to rest after working.

OK - But is there a difference between sleeping after the shift or later in the day? The later is closer to mrcharly-YHT advice.  It's not that I'm not getting enough sleep, just struggling with the changeover. In theory I'd have thought changing from a bedtime from Midday to say 8pm, would be easier than from an earlier time, though that's what's working for PBs son.

Ending about 12 years ago, I worked permanent nights for five years, I loved it, always slept in the afternoons and kept semi nocturnal hours on the off days.  I shall experiment...

[Ruthie]

The turn round from nights to days is a nightmare and I never stopped losing a day after nights in all the years of a system called 'internal rotation' - mixed days and nights, every week. The people who had it Sussed were able to stay up all day and go to bed at a normal time after their last night shift. Go for a ride early in the day.

[hellymedic]

I think you mean 'infernal rotation'...

The Royal College of Anaesthetists has recently reported truly shocking RTC statistics concerning doctors driving after night shifts.

[Ruthie]

I think you mean 'infernal rotation'...

The Royal College of Anaesthetists has recently reported truly shocking RTC statistics concerning doctors driving after night shifts.

I'm not surprised.  I fell asleep at the wheel once after a night shift    only for a second but it was enough time to mount the pavement outside a primary school and lose a wheel trim.  The car was broken but luckily it was the school holidays so no little ones walking to school 

My ex was furious because I made him late for an appointment.

[Cudzoziemiec]

My cousin fell asleep while driving home when she was a junior hospital doc. Her aunt, also a dr, had perhaps foreseen this eventuality and armed her with a Volvo. One dead car, one dead lampost, but she was ok and thankfully no one else involved. Not sure if it was a night or day shift though.

[chrisbainbridge]

I once drove from Newcastle to Whitehaven having done probably a 36 hour shift and certainly the last 24 hours on no sleep having replanted 4 fingers.

I had all the windows open and the radio on at full blast.  I was certainly not safe!

[hellymedic]

One colleague spent months out following a near-fatal collision between jobs.

Elsewhere, I did a locum as the previous incumbent found promotion in a distant city, but had left his lady love behind. He died driving back to see her.