Posting has been a bit sketchy from me of late. Part of it has been The Day Job.
As I mentioned before, I have a pregnant colleague at work. She's demanding all kinds of changes in the schedule to accomodate her condition, and as a result, I'm pulling a LOT of 2nd shift time.
I happen to be one of those rare and despised creatures -- a morning person. I usually wake up between 4 and 5 in the morning. As you might presume, this makes working well into Prime Time a bit awkward.
So I'm trying to reset my circadian rhythms, and so far it's been... interesting. I've managed to shift my wake-up time to about 5, which is a litlte better, and I squeeze in the occasional "power nap" in the mornings, which seems to help, but it still has me a bit cotton-headed most of the time.
I hope to make the adaptation soon. But I'm feeling like an old dog, and this new trick is... well, tricky.
As I mentioned before, I have a pregnant colleague at work. She's demanding all kinds of changes in the schedule to accomodate her condition, and as a result, I'm pulling a LOT of 2nd shift time.
I happen to be one of those rare and despised creatures -- a morning person. I usually wake up between 4 and 5 in the morning. As you might presume, this makes working well into Prime Time a bit awkward.
So I'm trying to reset my circadian rhythms, and so far it's been... interesting. I've managed to shift my wake-up time to about 5, which is a litlte better, and I squeeze in the occasional "power nap" in the mornings, which seems to help, but it still has me a bit cotton-headed most of the time.
I hope to make the adaptation soon. But I'm feeling like an old dog, and this new trick is... well, tricky.
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Comments (8)
Try working rotating shifts... (Below threshold)1. Posted by GarandFan | February 8, 2011 10:12 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Try working rotating shifts of two months duration each. Days, Nights and Mids, then back to Days again.
On average it'll take you about a month to get your body in sync with the new schedule.
1. Posted by GarandFan | February 8, 2011 10:12 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on February 8, 2011 22:12
2. Posted by epador | February 8, 2011 10:36 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Make sure the power nap is no more than 20 minutes, better to save it until about an hour before you start your second shift work (eat light before starting work), and if they give you a real "lunch break" eat light then too. Don't eat a lot before you head to bed (see this is a great way to diet). Benadryl is legal for sleep.
2. Posted by epador | February 8, 2011 10:36 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on February 8, 2011 22:36
3. Posted by f1guyus | February 8, 2011 11:45 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Just do it. When you are my age and retired you'll be glad you did.
3. Posted by f1guyus | February 8, 2011 11:45 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 8, 2011 23:45
4. Posted by Murgatroyd | February 9, 2011 12:22 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I've found that it's a lot easier to shift forward than back -- in other words, to lengthen the cycle by staying up very very late rather than by going to bed early and hope that the time shift will "take." (It doesn't.)
Good luck.
4. Posted by Murgatroyd | February 9, 2011 12:22 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on February 9, 2011 00:22
5. Posted by Jim Addison | February 9, 2011 2:10 AM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
I never found any easy way to adjust to rotating shifts, period.
I'm all for accommodating pregnant women at the workplace for their medical appointments, and any particular problems. But outside the last few weeks, they can usually carry their usual workload and schedule if they want to. Seems to me this has been going on a good while and, if so, she may just be taking advantage of the situation.
Often, people like that will end up deciding they want more than the maternity leave and just quit - or demand even more concessions if they are important enough to the organization.
5. Posted by Jim Addison | February 9, 2011 2:10 AM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on February 9, 2011 02:10
6. Posted by WildWillie | February 9, 2011 9:05 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Hang in the JT. I am a morning person also. Ready to hit it first thing. I work in healthcare which means about 85% of the employees are female. Which means most executives are in by 9a, have their coffee,etc. By 4-5p I am ready to wrap up but they are just cranking. ww
6. Posted by WildWillie | February 9, 2011 9:05 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 9, 2011 09:05
7. Posted by Gov. Christie | February 9, 2011 10:41 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Quit sniveling. Be happy you have a job.
7. Posted by Gov. Christie | February 9, 2011 10:41 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on February 9, 2011 10:41
8. Posted by McGehee
| February 9, 2011 11:29 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
"Rotating shifts," you say?
I used to work for an inventory company. Quite often I'd work one day starting at 2:00 a.m., followed by starting the next day at 7:00 p.m., and then after a day off (maybe, if the boss was feeling merciful) it would be back to a pre-dawn start.
Do that twice and that's about a week, more or less. It got hard to tell after a while what day of the week it was, so ballpark estimates were as good as it got. And you only got overtime if the actual count took longer than eight hours (if I hadn't been based in California it would have taken forty hours in a week to start the overtime).
I miss that job.
8. Posted by McGehee
| February 9, 2011 11:29 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on February 9, 2011 11:29