How many nighthawks do we have here ?

[Blowtorch]

Talking graveyard shift-

I did some 3rd shift work when I was younger, now I am back to it, and loving it. Relatively little traffic, quiet in the office...

My sons are now older, 17 and 20, or this wouldn't be working out well (single dad)

Anyone else working late and loving it?

 

[tonyb]

Used to. And it suited me fine, although I most preferred getting up around noon and hitting the sack at 0430 or so. Alas, my present domestic situation doesn't allow for that.

 

[Fading Fast]

As a variation on your theme, off and on throughout my career, I have traded overseas hours (worked very late when I traded Japanese trading hours in the late '80s / early '90s) and have traded Europe / London hours many times which required getting up for work sometimes as early as just after our midnight.

I now get up between 2-3am to work out and, then, get up to speed on / get involved with overseas trading and prep for the US markets to open.

I've done this 2-3am thing for several years now and - overall - love it. I usually wrap up my working day no later than 4pm (and really earlier some days, but have to check the US market's close at 4pm). I enjoy being up very early and, for some reason, like having an atypical schedule.

I am a moring person, so that helps, but what I love the most is how quiet the world is for the first five or so hours that I'm up.

 

[Michael R.]

I worked years not sleeping for days , then usually getting a catch up , then just naps until I got back home . LA turn-around , Dallas lay-down , all over RollOn . Now I can't get back to normal sleep . It was tough at first , then I guess the 2-3 AM sleep thing in my brain quit . Hopefully one day I'll be straightened out . I love getting good sleep and getting up between 4-5 AM . Touring the country the traffic was so much better in the middle of the night , you can make much better time .

But now I guess I'm paying for it . Glad to be able to sleep , even though its at very inconvenient times for normal activity . Days without sleep isn't good on the body , or brain . Tough life , but fun in many ways .

 

[DocCasualty]

I work both day and night shifts in any given month and the older I get, the more I dislike working nights. Working nights isn't the problem, it's the toll it takes on my sleep schedule over the next couple of days and just leads to wasted non-productive off time. All the studies point to what a toll working nights takes on one's health.

The people I've known that did the best with nights basically just turned into nocturnal individuals, not changing their wake/sleep schedule when they were off work.

 

[tonyb]

I work both day and night shifts in any given month and the older I get, the more I dislike working nights. Working nights isn't the problem, it's the toll it takes on my sleep schedule over the next couple of days and just leads to wasted non-productive off time. All the studies point to what a toll working nights takes on one's health.

The people I've known that did the best with nights basically just turned into nocturnal individuals, not changing their wake/sleep schedule when they were off work.

It's that switching around I can't abide. The human animal just isn't built for it.

I had briefly held jobs that had me working different hours on different days -- day shifts, night shifts, swing shifts. It's inhumane, in my book.

 

[Michael R.]

Boy you're right tonyb . You feel terrible .

 

[tonyb]

Back when I was a single fellow I could be relied upon to work on holidays and to come in early and/or stay late when the workload called for it. Other people had kids and all that went along with that -- sports, concerts, lessons, teacher conferences, etc. And visits to Grandma's on holidays.

Had I had the holiday off, chances are I would have passed it doing nothing that I couldn't have done any other day.

But please, don't have me coming in at 0700 two days running and then ask me to come in at 2230 the third day. A dog has a better life than that.

 

[Blowtorch]

I am fortunate, I feel.

My work schedule is 6PM-6:30AM. I do this for three nights in a row (Sun PM-Wed AM), during which period there is really only time for work and sleep. But then I have the remainder of the week free to do with as I wish. That allows time to both get back into a "normal" schedule, and then get prepared again for the nights schedule, sleep-wise. It also gives me most of the weekend free, AND it allows me extended time to focus on projects, much more than the traditional weekends-only-off schedule does.
I've only been doing this a couple of months, but I am loving it

 

[ChrisB]

When I was in college, I worked summers doing rotating shits. It took all week to get used to the shift, and then next week you had to get up 8 hours earlier. The first day of midnight shift was absolute misery. It felt like jet lag the entire summer, I don't miss it at all.

 

[tonyb]

Exhaustion beats pain, but that's about all it beats.

 

[ChrisB]

Exhaustion beats pain, but that's about all it beats.

My first summer, I developed tendonitis, so I had both.

 

[Stearmen]

I had a 1981 Nighthawk, never should have sold it!

 

[HudsonHawk]

I am very much a morning person. Not quite 2am like Brother Fading Fast, but I'm typically up around 4:30. I love the sunrise and like has been mentioned, one can typically get a lot done in the early hours before the interruptions start at normal business hours several hours later.

On a side note, early morning is my favorite time to smoke a cigar. Cup of coffee and a good breakfast cigar watching the sun come up...great way to start the day.

 

[DocCasualty]

I had a 1981 Nighthawk, never should have sold it!

LOL! We still have two of these Eddyline Nighthawks and we aren't selling!

 

[Edward]

I am fortunate, I feel.

My work schedule is 6PM-6:30AM. I do this for three nights in a row (Sun PM-Wed AM), during which period there is really only time for work and sleep. But then I have the remainder of the week free to do with as I wish. That allows time to both get back into a "normal" schedule, and then get prepared again for the nights schedule, sleep-wise. It also gives me most of the weekend free, AND it allows me extended time to focus on projects, much more than the traditional weekends-only-off schedule does.
I've only been doing this a couple of months, but I am loving it

I've had friends in the casino industry who have that sort of work pattern. I can imagine it having an appeal.

I find as I age I enjoy and appreciate having a routine. Oddly, when I get into work early, I tend to be more productive, but I'm not a natural early -riser. A few years ago, I had a week off at home, on my own, and so I switched off the alarm, got up when I wakened, and went to bed when I felt tired. By Thursday night, I went to bed at 6am on Friday morning, and gout up at 5.30pm on Friday evening. I could easily go nocturnal. The best compromise I find is that I aim to be in work by 9.30am (unless I have an early meeting), and leave at 6.30pm, which means I avoid the worst of the rushhour at both ends. At this time of year, I do a lot of travelling, mostly to teach in Beijing, so I'm arriving in Beijing off an overnight flight to even out a 7 hour time difference in time to teach the next morning, with classes starting as early as 8am and running as late as 7.30pm. That can be a bit of a hit.... I used to be able to stay up the whole plane journey and power through, but now I have to sleep about half of it, then go to bed when I hit the hotel at 3pm and sleep through to the next day. Oddly, going back the other direction is a breeze.

 

[Blowtorch]

My work week is done in a couple of hours.

As I've mentioned earlier, I'm still relatively new at this. Really all this not-at-work time feels like both a luxury and a privilege (certainly a blessing), and rather than slipping into taking it for granted I am working hard at focusing on making the sleeping/awake transition quickly back into "normal hours" so I can enjoy the company of my two sons, and so that I can take the opportunity to improve myself and my surroundings.
My "to-do" list always includes working out, my musical pursuits (guitar, piano, mandolin, and bagpipe), and catching up on reading.

So I thank those of you who've welcomed me to your swell site. Enjoy your work week, and I'm sure you'll be seeing more of me come next Sunday evening.

 

[Fading Fast]

It's that switching around I can't abide. The human animal just isn't built for it.

I had briefly held jobs that had me working different hours on different days -- day shifts, night shifts, swing shifts. It's inhumane, in my book.

Agreed. When my trading hours were being moved around a lot on an almost daily basis, based on market activity, I was working late, then, getting in early, then, not working that night, but the next day for 14 hours and then.... That was killing me. I felt totally off kilter all the time.

What I've found works best for me is to stay with the same schedule 7 days a week. So I get up within the same 1 hour window on weekends as I do during the week and, overall, do fine with my schedule.

Also, since I only sleep about six hours a night, I try to take a few twenty minute naps if I can during the day. When I do, I feel great, but to be honest, that's only about one in every three or four days that I can get those naps in.

 

[Edward]

It's amazing the effect a strategic catnap can have. The Chinese are masters of this: I've watched kids I teach get their head down for ten minutes at a time during class breaks, and then up again with plenty of vigour.

A couple of years ago, I read an article about the early settlers in the US and their two-sleep approach - going to be around six, sleep til nine, then awake reading for a few hours, then sleep again. Of course that was a different time, when they were less beholden to the 9-5 culture, and the important thing was to be up during daylight hours. Supposedly, though, it can have significant health benefits, some experts believe, to sleep twice rather than in one long session.

 

[tonyb]

...

A couple of years ago, I read an article about the early settlers in the US and their two-sleep approach - going to be around six, sleep til nine, then awake reading for a few hours, then sleep again. Of course that was a different time, when they were less beholden to the 9-5 culture, and the important thing was to be up during daylight hours. Supposedly, though, it can have significant health benefits, some experts believe, to sleep twice rather than in one long session.

I've read similar things, and I've read things much to the contrary.

I don't fall or stay asleep as readily as I once did. I'm told my complaint is fairly common among people of my age. There are OTC sleeping meds that are pretty effective, but they kinda scare me. I had read that diphenhydramine is implicated in Alzheimer's, for instance, although my "regular" doctor says he questions the research.