Is it difficult to adjust to the graveyard shift?

  What is the best way to prepar for this. 

• Is it difficult to adjust to the graveyard shift? - Texas Girl
  • graveyard shift - cpk
  • Thank you for the responses. - Texas Girl
    • I worked graveyard before, and will now again. - SamesituationMT
    • I wouldn't worry about it sm - former redeye
    • I didn't like 3rd at all - Vicki
      • I definitely understand - LinK
  • More graveyard experiences - CalmT
  • what helps me - kelli
    • You can also use - Ronni
  • Graveyard Shift - TX MT, Too
  • I work graveyard on weekends - Tired&CrankyMT
    • Yeah, working nights would be great if - former redeye
      • Working graveyard - LinK
        • My experiences while working graveyard were (sm) - Lynney

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I totally disagree with this study, for multiple reasons.  I agree with some of the posts, stating that it would depend upon if you are getting enough sleep, whether you work the graveyard shift or not.  People working regular shift often get only a couple of hours of sleep, because they are out at bars all night, drinking, etc.

However, I work the graveyard shift, usually 11 pm to 6 am.  I am working, while my husband is sleeping.  Right after work, I go to bed, and sleep anywhere between 10 to 12 hours.  Then, when my husband comes home, we have the whole evening together!

Also, do they take into consideration that many graveyard shift workers work in factory situations where they are exposed to lots of other things, like toxic chemicals, etc.?  I read about it in the paper, too, and it mentioned that the increase in the cancer effect of the graveyard shift workers began in the 1930's, with the "industrial" boom --- what about those effects on cancer, not the time of day you do it.

I also feel that I can produce more in the same time frame doing MT at nite, with less stress of all the other noises of the day, and not having the phone ringing off the hook!

It all depends on you.  I don't think there's a set rule book.  I have a major sleep "situation."  It isn't a problem because it's been this way all my life.  I never liked to sleep, and would still rather mow the lawn or just about anything besides sleep. Obviously the rest of the world thinks that's strange, but it's just how I got wired (pardon that pun!)...  Many people say they got "x" hours of sleep.  I look at it as whatever I got is what I got, if any.  But I know that's not the norm for most.

There have been times when I've fallen asleep typing, but very rarely.  There are also times when I stay up for 2 days straight, and still fight going to sleep.

Just give it some time and decide if you can do it.  It's good that we all have different time clocks embedded in our bodies!

Good luck!

I've worked graveyard before and will be starting again tonight.  I've learned a few things from past experience that can help this time. 

One is bright lights at night and blackout curtains during daytime sleeping hours.  Another is turning off the ringer on the phone before going to bed, arranging with a neighbor who is generally home during the day to take true emergency calls from certain people and ring my doorbell if necessary. 

I try to keep in mind that a lot of other people aren't readily available during the day or able to do what they like during the day because of work, either in or out of the home.  I also remember how lucky I am to be able to work from home and not have to deal with a commute, among other things.

Give myself some unwinding time after my shift and then do the best I can to adhere to regular sleep hours that least interfere with regular activities outside of work.  There will be times, of course, when I'll need to be flexible on the sleep hours to take care of things that must occasionally be done during the usual sleep hours schedule.

Accept that there will be days when the rest of the world will not be tip-toeing around because I want to sleep.  Watch out for sleep-deprivation crankiness, try my best not to take it out on other folks, and apologize promptly if I do.  It does help to explain the situation yet not use it as a recurrent or frequent excuse.

Make use of caffeinated beverages at the beginning of my shift and limit them toward the latter portion.  Remember that power naps during breaks may work for other people but that the temptation to keep hitting the snooze alarm could be overwhelming for me.  It was one thing when I was an IC, but not cool as an employee.  Better for me is to something semi-active during breaks and make myself get up and stretch on a periodic, regular basis.

Keep in mind that it will take a little while to get used to the new schedule and see what sleep hours seem to work best for me through trial and error.  I'm lucky that I have a natural tendency toward nightowlism. 

Sorry for the length of this essay and best of luck to you!  Would that there were a yawning smiley face...

In the midst of moving last weekend, I discovered my long forgotten kitchen appliance graveyard.  All the cool gadgets that I thought I HAD to have at the time that have long since moved into that cabinet.  I had three juicers dating back to the 80's, an ice cream maker, a sandwich maker, a George Foreman grill, a food dehydrator, and a the most recent one I got for Christmas, a smoothie maker.  Oh the humanity!  I have decided to resurrect some of them for fun and because I feel so guilty.  How about you all ?  Anyone suffer from this gadget collecting problem? 

It took me a while to get situated and then along came the summer months and my schedule got totally out of whack.  No school and the kids are home, etc., etc.

I have 2 accounts, one local and one national.  Unfortunately the national requires a 3 hour per day schedule (5 day week with one day a weekend), which really stinks, but what can you do?  My local only wants 24 hour turnaround and it's up to me when I do it, as long as it is back within 24 hours.

What I did was change my national hours to earlier morning, due to no preparation for school, and then I can get it done in case I want to go do something with the kids (they're older and are still getting the "winkies" out of their eyes at 10:00 a.m. when I finish).  If it's a really great day and I want to go sit by the pool and just relax and play, my local stuff waits until after dinner.  The kids understand the summer "trade off" and when cold weather and school starts again, I'll just work all day while they are in school and finish up affter they go to bed.

This is my very first summer doing this at home full time.  I got really, really lazy at first but finally just had to kick myself in the behind when the bills started getting behind.

Just passing thru tonight, but my kids are gone for a couple of hours with some friends, so I need to go kick behind and get caught up.

very little me time, but I was never a big me time person.  I truly enjoy spending time with my family.  I graduated one this year and I've got 4 more years left and then I'll have all the me time I want. 

My DH is an ex-math teacher so he handles math.  He usually does the grocery shopping and running errands.  My house is in a constant state of chaos and my flower beds are full of weeds.

This year is the first time I've had to work a strict schedule.  In the past I still tried to work a split shift, but had flexibility so I could do the field trips, the classes, etc.   My remaining child is a teen and does a lot of work on his own and he isn't into the field trips and other stuff now, so it is a bit easier in that respect, but we are also having to be more regimented in his studies because we have to be thinking about college.

You can Google your state or city and home educators to find support.  For the life of me I can't think of the national organization.  We're not very active in the homeschool community now because we prefer to do our own thing, but we have a weekly activity day.  It is usually bowling or rollerskating.  The kids are able to do their thing and the parents (usually moms) are able to socialize.  We have a gym day once a week.  It usually isn't structured, but gets the kids active.  We also have enrichment classes.  If foreign language or calculus isn't your thing your child can take enrichment classes.  We have a basketball team, a band.  We have proms and balls.   Places like the Y or the rock climbing place that don't get much business during the day have special rates/times for the homeschoolers.  There is a field trip at least once a month.  We have the science fairs, spelling bees, etc.  We have graduation ceremonies.  There are once a month support group meetings.  People who don't know anything about homeschooling always comment about lack of socialization, but as you can see from the above there is no lack of socialization.  Plus your child can participate in community sports, scouts, church group, plus have neighborhood friends, so we don't really keep our kids isolated.   We also have a year state convention/book fair.  We don't get any government funding or tax credits (though some states will provide the same textbooks that they use in public school), but we usually get teacher discounts.

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. 

There are a couple of ways to adjust playback speed.

1. Right-click on the Windows Media Player 10 title bar, choosing "Play" - "Play Speed" and selecting "Fast", "Normal", or "Slow".

Or, for more intricate adjustments:

1. Click the "Now Playing" tab.

2. Right-click on the Windows Media Player 10 title bar, choosing "View" - "Enhancements" - "Play Speed Settings".

3. A panel should appear at the bottom of the "Now Playing" tab.

- Click "Slow", "Normal", or "Fast" for basic play speed settings.

- Move the slider to the left to slow the playback; moving the slider to the right speeds up playback. For reference:

"Slow" speed is 0.5
"Normal" speed is 1.0
"Fast" speed is 1.4

If you're having trouble moving the slider, uncheck "Snap slider to common speeds" to allow speed changes across the slider bar. Note that some files may not correctly play at speeds less than 0.5.