Working a night job, do you need more sleep then usual?

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
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Lets say you work days, and get X amount of hours (average) for sleep. If you transition to a night job, would you need the same amount of sleep, or would it take a little more to continue on as normal? Assume this is after getting used to working a night shift, and for sake of argument lets say you work 10-6.
 

WalMart1564

Banned
Jan 22, 2003
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i dident i worked 3rd shift (11pm to 8am) for 7 years slept the same 6-7 hours i sleep now that i work 2nd shift
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
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I have no idea, but I'm going to randomly pick one of the answers, as I'm strangely compelled to vote in all polls.... add an "I don't know" response quick, before I mess up your results.
 

dakata24

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2000
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probably not. just takes some getting used to... i worked 3rd shift for like a week or so.. body was telling me it was time for bed, but my brain was telling me otherwise.
 

SuperTool

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
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I don't think you do. But I voted yes, cus it's not going to hurt.
When I was in college I lived on a 32 hour day for a couple weeks or so when I had lots of projects and exams. The time I went to sleep would phase shift by 8 hours every night.
It was actually pretty good, because I finally made some of my morning classes that I haven't been to all semester. I would stay up till 9, go to class, then go sleep afterwards. I had a black curtain over my window, so it made no difference if it was night or day. It was dark.
 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
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I think it's that night jobs are generally less active, making you more bored, but I don't think you need to sleep that much.
 

The Dancing Peacock

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Dec 22, 1999
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i worked swing, 4p.m to 1 a.m and I got more sleep than I ever did in my life. I never used an alarm, just woke up when I wanted to, unless i had something to do. I averaged almost 9 hours of sleep a night. I was never tired at work.

For graveyard, it'll be difficult if you live with other people on different schedules.
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
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Originally posted by: yoda291
I think it's that night jobs are generally less active, making you more bored, but I don't think you need to sleep that much.

That could be it right there.
 

iwearnosox

Lifer
Oct 26, 2000
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There's too many people in the world and particularly in the bay area. I like late nights when everyone's asleep and out of the way. =)
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
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I don't think you'd really need to get more sleep; for me, it's just like a regular full-time job, only with the am and pm reversed - I'm there 10pm - 7am. Wake up around 8:30, leave @ 9:15, come home around 7:40, go to bed at noon. (And in case anyone wonders about the time this was posted, this is my weekend right now.)
I'm one of them that prefers 7+ hours of sleep a night, because I don't like to fall asleep while driving. On weekends, I can easily stay asleep for more than 12hrs at a stretch.

Originally posted by: yoda291
I think it's that night jobs are generally less active, making you more bored, but I don't think you need to sleep that much.

Depends largely on the job. Try working nightshift as a stocker at Walmart. Sometimes they've got you pulling pallets of freight that seriously weigh nearly a half ton - yes, I can calculate this too. 42 bags of bird seed, 25 pounds each - 1050 pounds. When you pull something like that, you just hope you don't need to stop suddenly, because you literally can not.
The managers also expect a certain amount of speed when stocking shelves, and some of that stuff is heavy to work with.
 

thedarkwolf

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
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No. I work 12am to 8am, I am at work now :), and I go to bed at 9am and get up at around 4pm. Sure every now and again I'll sleep all the way to 6pm but other days I wake up at 2pm. It is nice being able to sleep as long as you want every day :).
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
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I established a sleeping pattern that stays the same 7 days a week..only way I could make it work. Iam up with the raccoons every night........:D