Third Shift and You
So today… I will introduce you to life as a third shifter. Things like my social life, family, friends and life in general are all affected by this and I don’t think alot of people understand it. Although I will do my best to describe it, to really get what it’s like you would have to do it for a good month, but here goes nothing.
I am going on year number 4 of doing this 3rd shift thing. I work Wed nights starting at 10 PM to 8 AM the next morning. I do this 4 days a week with my week ending on Sunday morning 8 AM. So now that you know my shift and days, let’s move onto sleep.
To make this easier to understand the sleep thing let’s start on Thursday morning when I get off at 8 AM, I go home, maybe relax or have my “dinner” and then go to sleep. I sleep until around 5:45 PM. I get up and get ready and then head out for the night. I then stay up until 8 AM the next day and rinse and repeat UNTIL Saturday morning. Saturday and Sunday mornings I try to change it up a bit. It’s not fair to the rest of my friends and family that I have to sleep so much and sleep during the day when things are going on and especially on the weekends. So on Saturday and Sundays I try to wake up by 1 PM or 2 PM and get up and do stuff that normal people would do on the weekends. This varies from time to time like many other things you will soon see. Now the problem with waking up at 1 or 2 PM on the weekends is that now I have to stay up until 8 AM the next day which you can imagine is a bitch. By Sunday night I am fucking wasted. To compensate I end up going to bed around 11PM Sunday night and if I’m lucky.. I’m conscience by 3 or 4 PM on Monday evening. The rest of Monday and Tuesday go by with varied results because it’s just hard. On Wednesday, I either try to sleep until 3-6 PM or wake up early and then go and take a nap till 6 PM and then go back to work that night at 10 PM.
sigh… are you still with me?
The human body was not meant to be up all night. In fact, there have been reports that third shift workers have a higher chance of cancer due to the human bodies internal clock being fucked up. I’m not making that up.. go look it up. For me.. my bad time is around 5 – 5:25 AM. I just start to shut down and it takes everything I have to not just fall asleep sitting up.
Ok so as you can see, I change my schedule twice a week. My body never gets into any pattern which means I am very erratic. I wish it wasn’t but sometimes I can stay up all night and do whatever and then there are other days I am ready to pass out at 8 PM. My erratic life and sleeping habits make life with me hell. I already have sleep apnea which makes my sleep suck anyways and I could basically die any night during my sleep but hey… that’s life.
I miss events with my friends and family either due to my sleeping or just working at night. I wish I could go to the poker games, late night drinking events, or just going out on a Saturday night. Sunday nights even if I was ready to go out and party who the fuck will go with me… EVERYONE has to work on Monday morning.. sigh.
I can’t get off this shift for a few reasons that I can’t go into on here and short of leaving the job I am at for 10 years to get off this shift, I am really stuck.
So I guess in closing, I am telling you this for a few reasons. If you live with someone that is on third shift, please give them a break or a little understanding and love. This shift is a bitch. It never gets better, you can never get used to the shift, and it’s just wrong.. everyone should go the hell to bed at night. If you don’t live with a third shifter but you know of one that is your friend… please be understanding and know that we don’t mean to miss important events or things that are important to you but we do what we need to do in order to survive.
This message is paid for and brought to you by all Third Shift Workers.
First of all…get the sleep apnea treated. Being starved of oxygen several times a night is hell on your heart and can lead to heart failure. Secondly, it interrupts your sleep and you can’t get any good deep REM sleep. Third, it drives your sleep partner crazy!
Yeah I know I sound like your mother but it’s very important to your health to get this treated.
My husband had this and could snore the freakin paint off the walls…especially when he layed on his back. My daughter told me her sleepover friend woke up and told her there was some kind of animal in the house. I had him trained, though. When he started I would poke him and he’d turn back on his side.
It played hell with my sleep though. Woke me up (and kept me up) many times. I’d turn the TV on and watch it quietly and he’d roll on his back and start snoring…then he’d stop….no air going in or out….I’d wait…then I’d poke him and he would inhale and snort really loud and then wake up and yell at me “Turn the goddamned TV off it’s waking me up” So I’d just lay there in the dark thinking about putting a pillow over his face…..
Then he couldn’t get up in the morning! He’d punch the damn snooze alarm about 5 times…but not right away…it would play for about 15 minutes before he’d hear it. He got up at 4AM. I didn’t have to get up til 7….after awhile I made him go sleep in the other bedroom on weeknights. I couldn’t stand it anymore! It never interfered with our sex life, though. I’d just make him leave afterwards.
his memory sucked. we had more arguments over things he said he told me or I told him and he forgot. he’d fall asleep in waiting rooms, at the movies. I’d go to rent a film and he’d say “get me ….” I’d remind him that we saw it at the theater. He’d deny it. He kept losing stuff (really he’d put it somewhere and forget where he put it) then accusing me of taking it (okay I did hide stuff sometimes when he’d piss me off… mostly his glasses so he couldn’t read the sports page…but only a few times)
Then there are all the times he fell asleep driving…about 6 times! Tore the fender off our Eldorado drop top, scraped up the side of the same car on the freeway cement divider. Finally totalled it in a head on collision with a ’63 Chrysler Imperial…the Chrysler won. He ended up in the hospital with a concussion from hitting the windshield. Then he scraped up the side of the yellow Caddilac, then a white Eldorado, then a Chevy Impala…then he rolled a Chevy truck with a camper over in a ditch, was thrown out of the truck and came to with the camper on his neck…pushing it off and gasping for breath…
It gets worse as you get older. Your body can’t take it and recoup like when you’re young…so take this all as a cautionary tale.
Good information Barb.. thank you.
hello,
i work third shift 5 nights a week. 11pm to 7am, so i know how it feels. not an easy shift, and it takes a certain kind of person to work this shift. its okay to work the graveyard, if you are single, but if you are married forget about it. this is one of the reasons why i believe i am now divorced. oh well. its a mind game, and if you are able to sleep during your overnight shift, by all means sleep. Fuck what people think. your health and sanity are more important. seriously. believe me, no person, really wants to work the third shift, so more power to overnight employees. usually the rules don’t apply for third shift employees. most employers are glad that u even showed up to work.
so just go to work, put in your 8 hours and then go home. its a clean paycheck. my friend, its mind discipline. always keep your options open, and remember its only temporary. one day most third shifters go back to day shift. but unbelievable for some third shifters, its until retirement, if they make it that long.
God Bless to you my friend
Be Strong,
Hey, completely agree with you, third shift sucks, especially when the dumbasses you work for decide to throw in a swing shift all the time that is second shift. It sucks being completely dead to the world and having everyone rip you a new one because youre practically a sleep deprived zombie and everyone thinks you either dont give a fuck about them or you need to be fucking superman, hey i dont need sleep, ill get plenty of that when i ram my car into a tree on the way to work b/c no one can let me sleep and everyone calls during the fucking day…..but i digress, third shift sucks ass and should be outlawed. The shit we do to ourselves to make a living. Its refuckingdiculous.
Hooray from a shitty shifter.
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2010 in review « Fighting Stupidity One Person at a Time said this on January 2, 2011 at 11:25 AM |
I’m a third shifter for a nursing home. Yes it is a needed shift there. I have a husband two kids three dogs. I have on several occasions woke up to my oldest daughter of 8 asking her father why does mommy sleep so much? I have tried taking sleeping pills to sleep at night when I’m off so I will be up in the day with my family, however, I have been unable to wake up in the daytime. My sleep goes into over drive and I end up sleeping all night all day and wake up around 3pm. Then I’m awake for the rest of the evening/night. I’m missing out on my family. I’m missing out on doing anything.
For example I am awake its 2am everyone in my house is asleep and I could go anywhere and do anything right? no lol the only thing open is walmart. I dont mind working the shift I have no problem staying awake as I am a CNA and am moving for 12 hours straight. But ugh I have no life. I thought as a house wife I had no life lol WRONG
I am thinking about trying that world of warcraft game those ppl seem to be addicted to it and that is their entertainment…it may work for a while.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel for me. My husband will finish his nursing degree soon and when he gets a job settled in I will def change to day shift maybe even just part time.
of course after I purchase a second vehicle and find a suitable after school program for the kids.
My mom and I currently work third shift at Wal-Mart. Yes, it’s not the luxurious life of a rich business man, and it’s not for the average MODERN person. But think of the shit that people had to go through hundreds of years ago. We have it MADE compared to them. You should be grateful every day for the jobs you have that support you and your family. We aren’t fighting overseas, we’re not settling new land like pioneers, we’re not risking our lives everyday just so we can bring home a little bit of food for 5 children and a wife that must stay home to look after your family.
There’s more to it that “I can’t get much sleep my internal clock is messed up.” We have it made, we’re just too stuck up to appreciate it.
This was passed on to be from a friend via Facebook and I just wanna say amen brother! Having been a 3rd shifter for many years and a rotating 12hour shiftworker for the last 6years, I know exactly every point you have made and have tried to explain this to people for ages. I realize this post is a rew years old now, but if your still in the 3rd row swing of thing, keep up the good fight! Passing this article on.