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Night Shift

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Anyone here works nights?

do you like it?

I've not done it so far... but Being in London it kinda appeals to me, no traffic, no congestion charges, mostly no traffic one job I had for 1.5 years was 3 hours a day in traffic 14 miles each way, same journey today would be about an hour more I reckon with bus lanes (although the buses wouldn't go as far as I needed so would still have to use a car .. unless I had two cars one at each end to meet the bus .. lol)

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yea, i sometimes do nights and hate them, but thats because i cant stay awake!
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    I dont do them regularly but have done them in the past, and will probably end up covering some in the Summer.

    For me the hardest part is staying awake. Its good at our place though cause you dont' actually do anything :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Doing nights on a long term basis is actually quite bad for your health, and does knock a good few years off your life if you do it full time for years.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bongbudda wrote:
    Doing nights on a long term basis is actually quite bad for your health, and does knock a good few years off your life if you do it full time for years.


    Where did that info come from?

    If nights is less stress, less travel time, less pollution (from traffic), less actual work and more just covering it might extend your life..
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My dad used to work nights as a taxi driver. For almost 30 years.

    When he suffered two massive heart attacks and heart failure, causing him to have a triple heart bypass (all well before he was 60) the doctors put it down to working circumstances. Working nights.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My mam worked nights as a nurse for 23+ years, an she found it really hard sometime to adjust when she wasnt working, she wouldnt be able to sleep because she was so used to be awake an you'd find her cleanin the cooker at 3 in the morning. I think it would be okay as an occasional thing, but not something id want to do forever.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I worked nights for 5 years and haven't done so for a year but Im still in a shite sleep pattern, it is not good for your health and not good for your social life.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Where did that info come from?

    If nights is less stress, less travel time, less pollution (from traffic), less actual work and more just covering it might extend your life..

    Its to do with sleep patterns and the level of light you get mostly, sunlight is so linked to mood and if you dont get any then you are far more likely to be depressed and your immune system wont work as well either.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The impact to your health can be recused if you don't work swing shifts. Due to the circadian rhythm (how our bodies know its time to "sleep" and when it is daytime) our bodies basically won't shut down just because you're sleeping during the day which can cause damage to liver etc because food isn't being broken down properly. Blah blah, my dad does swing shifts and he doesn't know whether he's comin or goin some days.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The other half works nights and has done since last august. He gets on ok but i do think it affects his moods ;).
    I will be glad when hes not doing them again.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I did one once. Not too bad, wouldn't want to do it all the time.

    11am-7pm wasn't too bad a shift, gave a lie in / chance to go to town in the morning, and still out in time if you wanted to go out of an evening.

    2-10 on the other hand just fairly sucked.
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    SkiveSkive Posts: 15,286 Skive's The Limit
    I used to do a week of nights then a week of days. 12 hour shifts 6 till 6. I hated it, though I both earnt and saved more money whilst working nights I had no social life and felt jank most of the time.
    Weekender Offender 
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    **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Hi ya,

    If you're serious about this then you might find it helpful to read TheSite's article on learning to adjust to night shifts. as Bong pointed out there are health risks involved which are also mentioned in the article.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    **Helen** wrote:
    Hi ya,

    If you're serious about this then you might find it helpful to read TheSite's article on learning to adjust to night shifts. as Bong pointed out there are health risks involved which are also mentioned in the article.

    LOL .. There seems to be a site guide for everything .. lol :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bongbudda wrote:
    Its to do with sleep patterns and the level of light you get mostly, sunlight is so linked to mood and if you dont get any then you are far more likely to be depressed and your immune system wont work as well either.


    Well see in London we'd be stuck underground on the tube or in an office all day anyway except for lunch times!!

    As for the teaxi driving thing - don't think it's a stressless job driving random people and also sitting down in a job all the time not much excercise
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i've done a couple of strange shifts like 12am-12pm or 7pm-3am but only really a few 7pm-7am shifts stacking shelves. it's alright, but it ruined my sleeping for the rest of the week! worth it if you do a few 'cause you get night premium.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Working nights is a lot harder than it looks.

    If you don't get to sleep by about 9.30am-10am then you simply won't get to sleep. If you don't sleep you can't do your job. It is a hard routine to get into, and the slightest knock will send you right back out of it, because people are not meant to sleep during the day. It's hard fighting the body clock, you have to go to bed as soon as you get home or you simply will never manage to sleep.

    It has its advantages- no rush hour, and it is peaceful eating your dinner at 3am and standing outside work in the night sky, but I wouldn't want to do it forever. It took me about two months to recover from the month I did with Royal mail.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    It took me about two months to recover from the month I did with Royal mail.

    Exactly, when I did it during winter I virtually never saw the sun, it does wierd things to you.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Up to recently I worked nights full time as a manager for IKEA. In January, I asked to be transferred to days for health reasons, but the company said they had no positions for me, so I quit.

    As far as travel, it only cut 15 minutes out of my journey working nights...

    I basically spent over a year not sleeping properly and not knowing left from right and towards the end I had 2 car crashes because i dozed off while driving i knew it was time to see my doctor who gave me some relaxants to help me sleep adn ordered me to go on days.

    The worst thing for me was, driving to work on friday and saturday nights seeing people getting into town to go out and have a good time while I will be at work.
    Fucked me up that did!!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As for the teaxi driving thing - don't think it's a stressless job driving random people and also sitting down in a job all the time not much excercise

    Not a lot of night jobs ARE stressless. Otherwise people wouldn't work nights, right?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not a lot of night jobs ARE stressless. Otherwise people wouldn't work nights, right?
    I think some people would still work nights as they need the extra money.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not a lot of night jobs ARE stressless. Otherwise people wouldn't work nights, right?


    Depends - a lot of night time office jobs are simply providing cover - answering phones, etc.

    I once had a normal or supposed to be normal 9am to 5pm job but for a while I was working from 8am to midnight at times cos the only way to get things done was when the place was empty - It was much less stress to get things done at night rather then during the day when having to move a cable or upgrade a PC Server meant turning it off so 40 people couldn't work for an hour or two.

    working at night (for most jobs) isn't just about working when the sun's gone down - it's also about working when the majority of people aren't there to bug you .. lol
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Depends - a lot of night time office jobs are simply providing cover - answering phones, etc.

    I once had a normal or supposed to be normal 9am to 5pm job but for a while I was working from 8am to midnight at times cos the only way to get things done was when the place was empty - It was much less stress to get things done at night rather then during the day when having to move a cable or upgrade a PC Server meant turning it off so 40 people couldn't work for an hour or two.

    working at night (for most jobs) isn't just about working when the sun's gone down - it's also about working when the majority of people aren't there to bug you .. lol

    My ex fella works nights (7-7) in an office and I think he would disagree with you. But if you wanna do it, try it, see if it suits you.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Randomgirl wrote:
    I think some people would still work nights as they need the extra money.

    What I meant was, companies wouldn't need night-workers if there wasn't work to be done at night.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What I meant was, companies wouldn't need night-workers if there wasn't work to be done at night.
    Sorry I think I mis-read your other post.

    But yes, I agree with you.

    There are very few jobs were you are paid just to be there at night. That said there are a few where night shifts are very quiet. But that in itself could be a bad thing if it gets boring.
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