Working hours, start 06:30

[Tigerbiten]

Getting up that early is easy, I did it for years without any problems.
What's harder is accepting the lifestyle shift needed so that you get enough sleep.
It can be hard going trying to get to sleep around 8-9 pm every night if the area you live is noisy.

YMMV ........

[Tangled Metal]

I reckon night shift would be easy to sleep. Our street goes dead during the day. Mostly empty except the pensioners and mothers with young kids. Occasional tradesman but not much work going on in or street right now.

I often used to wonder about what people did or their hours when I saw them about during the day when I had a day off. You often see people going about their business in town during the day. To me that's a bit strange. You're either at work or off duty. I guess they must be on early or late day shift on a three shift pattern. Or something like that. I am guilty of people watching and have a nosey streak so makes me curious. Too many people about at times.

[Mick F]

Many years ago on exercise in the far north Atlantic for a few weeks in Oct/Nov, we worked a shift pattern of six on, six off.
On watch at 6am and off at noon, then back on at 6pm an off at midnight for day after day after week after week.
........... or the opposite watch was on at noon, off at 6pm and back on at midnight until 6am ...................
You get the picture.

Not much in way of daylight, and "breakfast" was on at the same time as an "evening meal". The whole ship was in this routine and it was horrible and at the same time interesting and memorable and sort of enjoyable.

After a few "days" you forgot if it was 0600 or 1800, or 1200 or 2359.
Weird.

[mjal]

Work in medicine so lots of unsocial unpredictable hours. Today should have been 05:00 till around 15:00 but will now be until 22:30.

You just get used to it.

Surely one cannae think properly and makes mistakes if one works so long

Done 15 hrs today. You get used to it sadly.

It's always boring when someone does the old "when I was a boy" routine but here goes...

Junior hospital doctor in 1971/72 in Glasgow ; no shifts in the accepted sense, simply working-days of relatively normal hours (about 0800 - 1800 commonly) BUT then "on-call" which in some jobs meant continuing to work at the same furious pace until late at night/early the next morning with the distinct possibility of little if any sleep. This would then be followed by "day work", at least until lunchtime.
Memorable experience: a full day, evening and into the night as above ; bed at 0350 ; unable to fall asleep! ; phone rings at 0410 and the "day" begins. I think I was able to set off for home at about 1330.
Different patterns : a rota in "Casualty" ( A and E) and very busy ; six weeks of 24 hours on/ 24 hours off. Duty began at 0900 and it was perfectly common to have no real break until 0100 i.e. 16 hours later. There might have been some sleep later but possibly not...
Supervision and senior assistance varied from fair to poor to non-existent. No-one in authority cared about the junior staff possibly because the consultants had endured similar (or worse!) privations themselves.
"They shoot horses, don't they?" Well, we survived as did (most of) the patients.

PS : I seem to remember a marvellous innovation of "paid overtime" in about 1971.The rate for hours above a certain (large) base number was 1/3 of the "normal" notional rate. My memory may be wrong on these details as at this point I was not an NHS employee for remuneration purposes.

[DanZac]

Many years ago on exercise in the far north Atlantic for a few weeks in Oct/Nov, we worked a shift pattern of six on, six off.
On watch at 6am and off at noon, then back on at 6pm an off at midnight for day after day after week after week.
........... or the opposite watch was on at noon, off at 6pm and back on at midnight until 6am ...................
You get the picture.

Not much in way of daylight, and "breakfast" was on at the same time as an "evening meal". The whole ship was in this routine and it was horrible and at the same time interesting and memorable and sort of enjoyable.

After a few "days" you forgot if it was 0600 or 1800, or 1200 or 2359.
Weird.

We used to do midnight to midday or vice versa 7 days a week for a couple of months at a time. It was ok once you got into the swing of it. Unfortunatly the chefs could never get their heads around the fact you might have just got up at midnight so it was burgers and chips or similar for breakfast at midnight and a full English for lunch / tea at 08:00 every day.
Now that really messes with your mind after a few weeks!

[francovendee]

During my working life I'd always make an early start even though there was nothing in my contract to do this. My reason was to see the night shift before they left and get first hand any issues. I quite liked being up and about when the rest of the house was asleep.

I tried night shift for 4 weeks when we had problems and I felt really ill doing it, couldn't sleep in the day time and just got more and more tired as time went on. It increased my respect for the guys who did it for years.

[Cyril Haearn]

Working nights or rotating shifts can be very bad for ones health, costs a lot of life-years I suspect

Cavepeople went to sleep when the sun went down, we should try to do likewise

[Mick F]

Cavepeople went to sleep when the sun went down, we should try to do likewise

Scottish cavepeople wouldn't wake up in the winter!

If I could be reincarnated, I'd like to come back as a grizzly bear.
Top of the food-chain, protected species ................... and best of all, I could gorge on wild salmon and berries, then sleep for the whole winter.
What's not to like?

[Cyril Haearn]

I should like to be reincarnated as Sailor, please to post up-to-date pictures

I guess the cavepersons in the Sahara would not sleep much in summer

[axel_knutt]

Why on Earth would getting up early damage your health???

The World Health Organisation has classed any form of night-time shift work as a probable carcinogen

[kwackers]

Why on Earth would getting up early damage your health???

The World Health Organisation has classed any form of night-time shift work as a probable carcinogen

That's an article that is essentially about a sleeping pattern that's not consistent, not about shifting your day a couple of hours (otherwise folk in other time zones would be up sheyt creek).

[Mick F]

I should like to be reincarnated as Sailor, please to post up-to-date pictures

Nothing more up to date than this from August.

[francovendee]

Cavepeople went to sleep when the sun went down, we should try to do likewise

Scottish cavepeople wouldn't wake up in the winter!

If I could be reincarnated, I'd like to come back as a grizzly bear.
Top of the food-chain, protected species ................... and best of all, I could gorge on wild salmon and berries, then sleep for the whole winter.
What's not to like?

Some may already see you as a grizzly

[Mick F]

Mr Grumpy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nBiH03VWNo

[ambodach]

I used to work in dairy farming where we started the milking at 0530. No commute of course because I lived in the bothy and worked a 13 day fortnight. Later I worked as a postman and for a while started at 0430 with a 4 mile commute but later got a lie in to 0600 start. Subsequently I had a job for 20 years where I was on call 24/7 and made random checks at odd hours during the night.
The habit of rising early has stayed with me and does not seem to have done much harm to my health. Never worked shifts tho’.