How can I prepare myself for a third shift job?
I’ve been a stay at home mom forever but I am a night owl, so that works in my favor. I’ll have to sleep after my husband and son leave for work and school. Hopefully I can fall asleep by 9am.
I’m worried about day sleeping. We are currently surrounded by loud construction directly next to us. New condos are being built. It’s loud.
I’ll have the phone next to me for the rare occasion there might be a family emergency, but we also get many robocalls. My sleep may be disrupted many times throughout the day.
Do you have any tips to help me adjust to this new schedule? Thanks in advance!
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9 Answers
Congratulations on the new job!
I do have a few suggestions. If you have a cell phone, take your home phone off the hook and tell your family to call the cell only in an emergency. Sleep in the room farthest from the construction noise. Run a fan for white noise to drown out other noise.
You’ve got this!
When my sister (who is a nurse) had to take night shifts, she got a pager exclusively for emergencies and turned off all other ringers. Her family had that number on their persons at all times.
Your phone can be set to Do Not Disturb that allows only calls/texts from a privileged list to get through.
The instructions above are outlined for both iPhones and Androids.
Wear ear plugs and an eye mask. Follow @zenvelo‘s suggestion with your phone in your pocket on vibrate for emergency contact only.
Congrats!!
I would suggest investing in a white noise machine and black-out blinds. Set your bedroom up to be as accommodating to sleep as possible. I would also suggest investing in some melatonin. It has always helped me sleep and not wake up groggy. But don’t take too much at one time…you will have extremely strange dreams that will leave you feeling less rested!
All good suggestions above. Room farthest from noise, very dark room (either black out curtains or eye mask) ear plugs, and setting up your phone to not disturb you.
I’ll add sleep whenever you can if you’re sleepy. You likely will not be getting 7–9 hours straight, but as long as it adds up to the total you need in a day you should be fine, assuming you are sleeping at least 1.5 hours at one time to go through all stages of sleep. You might also need to catch up on your days off. You might get only 6 hours a day for a couple of days, but then if you can sleep 10 hours the third day that might work ok for you.
Most people I know who worked night shift worked “full time” but usually only 3 or 4 days a week.
Great suggestions. Thank you so much! I’m nervous but excited to try something new.
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