When working in a graveyard shift schedule...

I have worked a lot on the midnight shift. It is always hard at first but if you get yourself a set schedule, it does get easier. Decide whether you want to go to sleep as soon as you get home or later in the day. I would come home from work, take a little while to wind down from the day and go to sleep about an hour after I got home from work. On occasion there were the days when I had something else I had to do and would sleep later in the afternoon but wouldn't wake up until it was time to go to work again. I liked going to sleep shortly after I got home because then I would have time to spend with my kids and I would have time to eat dinner with them. When I would have a weekend off I would sleep a couple of hours when I got home and then get up and try to have a normal weekend and get a couple hours of sleep on Sunday night before I had to go back to work. Make sure to take a lunch or at least something to eat with you because on midnights it seems like you're thrown off so much by the schedule, that you forget or don't have time to eat.

At one time worked a 3 to 11 shift and loved it. Sometimes would work till 3 to 7am if people couldn't get in because of weather or short staffed. I think the most part about it is changing your internal clock. It doesn't happen overnight, but you do eventually get used to it. I think the hardest part is the reprograming to go to sleep during the day. Putting heavier curtains or blinds up to keep the bedroom darker helps, but what found most difficult was when getting together with family functions or holidays. You still need to keep your schedule but sometimes have to short yourself here or there on sleep to keep in touch with people. It isn't all bad though. You get off work and don't have to fight the crowds in stores becuase that is when most of the work force is working. There are advantages to night and graveyard shifts because most of the time you are paid more then day workers are. If that's what you're shooting for (working the graveyard shift) then I do wish you luck. I think there are pro's and con's to any shift that you work, you just gotta find a routine in it.

When I used to have my training in a hospital as a nurse few years ago, I experienced working on a graveyard shift many times. Those times were really difficult because I couldn't sleep well in the morning in order to compensate with those sleepless nights. I also felt sleepy those times and my friends suggested me to take coffee but the problem is, I don't drink coffee and I don't even like its taste. So what I did was, I tried to keep myself busy in order for me not feel sleepy and to make myself tired so that I can easily fall asleep the next morning.