Tip on adjusting to nights

[sis]

I'm starting a new job shortly and I'll be working 12 hr. shifts from 6:30 pm to 6"30am kReally need some tips on adjusting to this schedule. Never worked many nights. I'll be working 3 shifts per week. We do our own scheduling. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[NursePooh]

Originally posted by burger914:

When you work third shift, do you recommened sleeping as soon as you get home in the morning or sleeping later in the afternoon?

I think it depends on the individual. I couldn't usually go straight to bed (unless it was my third twelve in a row and/or the night from hell), so I would sit and "unwind" in the lazyboy I bought myself. That's usually where I'd end up falling asleep, then wake up to the hootin' and hollerin' on Jerry Springer

If I had worked the night before, I usually slept from nine in the morning till about three or four in the afternoon. If I had been off for a couple of nights, it got easy to get turned around, and that's when I'd start taking the B&B and lying down around two in the afternoon in the hopes of getting at least 4 hours for my first night back. Physically, eight hour shifts were easier for me. Less nights off meant less getting turned around. But it also meant that, outside of my job, I didn't have a life.

Oh, and if you have a family to cook for, the crock pot is your friend :) You can throw it together before you go to sleep, and wake up with dinner already done. I never could get used to eating pot roast for "breakfast" though