I am a new to the night shift and not adjusting well. I have been on night shift since February. The other day after a very long shift, followed by a staff meeting, followed by a traffic filled commute home it happened. I woke up with a slice of pizza stuck to my face. I literally fell asleep at the kitchen table. In my pizza. I am thankful I was too tired to warm it up or the outcome may have been bad.
I am really trying to make this shift work. I am trying to stick to the night schedule on my days off. But I feel like all I do is work and try to sleep. And if I ever get a few days off in a row, all I do is sleep. I was off this weekend, I slept 12 hours each day. On work days, I rarely get more than 4-5 hours of sleep between shifts. On days off, I can't do anything with my family. I am tired all the time.
I have never been a coffee drinker, or soda drinker. Now I am drinking coffee on my days off in an attempt to stay awake to interact with my family. Nothing helps.
Please tell me this will get better. I really like my job, but I am not sure how long I can keep this up. And to make matters worse, I was told when hired that whenever a day shift opens they offer it to us night shifters first, but they just hired 2 new grads that are going to be on days. Now a bunch of coworkers are giving their notice and I am feeling hopeless of ever getting off of nights.
