[benzenering]

I currently work nights and have for a few years. What is the best way to transition back to working days? Posted this on the sleep board and got no responses, hoping for some personal experiences.

[Skeezyks]

I wasn't sure what you had in mind as far as transitioning back to working days. It's been many years... decades really... since I worked nights. But I did. Actually I quite liked it at the time. I've always been sort-of a night person anyway.

For the most part, things were quiet on the night shift. None of the bosses were around & there were typically no visitors. (I worked in 3 different hospitals for periods of time.) It was just a slower, calmer pace all the way around (unless there was an emergency, of course.) At one of the places I worked we would often order out & have pizza or sub sandwiches for "lunch" at 12 or 1 a.m. I did also work days though at other times. It was much more stressful, in general.

I also sometimes had occasion to switch from working nights to working evenings or days for periods of time. Generally I would, as I recall, have a day or two off in between. I can dimly recall having done a few double shifts now-&-then as well though. But that was the exception rather than the rule. One time, when I had worked an evening shift followed by a night shift, as I was driving home in the morning, I fell asleep at the wheel & drove my car into a concrete post alongside the road!

Anyway... I would think the thing to do, as far as transitioning from nights to days would perhaps be to arrange it so that you have a few days off in between, if you can, so that you can get used to your new schedule. And then just realize that, depending on your work situation, you may find working days to be a whole different animal.

[benzenering]

Yes, Skeezyks, I volunteer to work nights, and it is really great. No supervisor, no distractions, I can get SO much done! I like it, in addition, because if a problem comes up, there is no one to rescue me...I have to solve the problem, all by my little self. I may be a little weird, but I didn't have any trouble adjusting to working nights, but now I am SO sleepy at 5 pm!!! I'm going to be single again very soon, and working nights doesn't really work out really well with trying to build a social life after many years of a bad marriage, so I'm thinking I will un-volunteer for it. Hope my boss didn't get to used to it . Thanks for the advice!

[seesaw]

I have no specific advice, as I haven't done this shift before. But I wanted to acknowledge I read your post. The only thing I can think, in terms of when I have had to shift my routine, is to sort of force it for a few days, and then your body adjusts. So like, for a couple of days, you may be awake more hours at night, unable to sleep at night, and groggy at work, but realize you just have to push through until your body adjusts. I had this sort of shift in schedule when I was marathon training and also with different jobs, also when traveled a lot for work and dealt with time changes all the time. But never as drastic as the night shift.

I bet there are blogs about this kind of transition you could search for if you don't get much of a response here.

Seesaw