if you look at the research on people working night shift, they tend to have more health problems than day and swing shift workers.

I had a weird job out of college consulting with 24hr job sites, which meant nights some weeks, swing others and day others, and sometimes all three in a single week. I found swing the best for training. I could still meet the morning rides & runs and get all my stuff done.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

It is miserable to be on a night shift and try to train properly. I've worked nights for 3 years, and have asked REPEATEDLY to be changed, to no avail. For now, I need the night shift to take one more prerequisite, but as soon as the spring semester ends, I will find a new job. I know I'm angst-ridden about it, but night work sucks. It sucks even more if you are married and have children. My recommendation is to run far and fast (consider it training!) from shift work or management (even worse, in my opinion at this point...)

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If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat

I'm interested in this thread because I have worked 12hr shifts, straight nights, for years. I work at a hospital in intensive care so I have to work 12hrs. I have the choice of working straight days, but I choose not to because it makes it very difficult to train for ironman events. Yes, i believe working nights is terrible for your overall physical and mental health, and it presents many challenges to those with family and friendships to maintain!
By working nights I am able to do with less sleep on the days that I work. This allows me to get in afternoon workouts on my own before work. If I'm off, I make it to my masters swim club twice during the week. If I really motor out of work in the morning on Sunday I can make it to the 7:30am swim., albeit late. Some days I feel wrecked and it's tough to say if it's due to training or work, but it's probably both. If I feel bad, I give in and take a break from training and the next day I usually feel better.
If I moved to 12hour day shifts I'd have to get my workouts in before work, which would entail getting up at 3am. Yikes. Running at that time is not appealing and I have yet to meet someone who would be interested in getting together at that time, especially on a cold January morning. After a day shift I don't get home until 8 or 8:30pm, so I would miss swimming with my masters group. Most importantly I seem to be more wiped after a dayshift than a night shift and I know I wouldn't do anything except eat and sleep.
So, I guess I just do as much as I can with the time and energy available. I know I'm near the end of my tolerance with night shift and training, but I promised myself one more season of Ironman and then I'll stick to shorter distance events. Too bad, because I really enjoy the ironman journey :(

I used to work 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. when I was in my mid 20s. I would go to bed soon after getting off work and sleep until early afternoon. I would train before work. The training was good, but it was hard to race well due to the interruption in my usual sleep cycle.

I'd stick with the afternoon shift.

i have been working nights for 3 years now, work starts for me at 9-6am, mondays thru fridays with the weekend off. so far the only problem for me 2 years back is eating healthy but now lost 25lbs since i started working nights and training has been great. after work at 6am i go for a swim which is 6:30-8 then sleep till 5 or 6. downside is my body can only take 3 swims,3-4 rides and 4 runs per week( 1 run is t-run after my long ride) the swims take a lot of time for me because i tend to compete with the morning commuters so i get home by 9am. i just go for consistency and so far no health problems. i live alone so its just work and training. my girlfriend is my training mate so worries on that matter as well...i`ll see if i can handle the load when i train for an IM in 2008

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"Pain is NOT temporary,you remember every bit of it"

Night shifts will take years off of your life..........seriously and you will have a really hard time training never mind finding someone to train with.

tfun~

After working 7p-7a for years I switched to noon to midnight and I cannot say enough about how much better it is.
Originally I had thought that the night shift would give me all that daylight to train. That was the ideal. Really I spent many many tired days. Days where I trained not at all because I was very fatigued.
I finally changed due to slowly realizing that that nights were bad for my health, just as is researched.
I work in a busy ER, so maybe if you work nights in a more sedate occupation it could work well. One 45 minute (sometimes not) break. Nutritionally this was a disaster. Poor intake of fluids and food and many times bad food at that.
The money difference I believe is worth the better health, mainly due to better sleeping and more in tune with night and day.
I only just started this noon to midnight thing in Sept. I will have to see how it goes for this season's racing.

I spent the last six years working a rotation where two weeks were day shift, two weeks afternoons, two weeks of overnights. Not sure where family/socializing and the like fits into your life, but as far as training goes the afternoon shift cannot be beat. You can still get in a few hours sleep to make early morning swims if you're dedicated, you can sleep in when over tired and still have lots of time for a workout prior to work, it really is the best. For me the only downside is it takes me out of the loop for post-school kids activities during that two week period.

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Thanks to Euro-Sports for my H3Cs.

http://www.euro-sports.ca

For a small time several years ago, I took a Christmas season job putting up decorations in upscale malls; a company I knew needed help and I needed the money.

Despite that "technically" the hours were the same as any other job (9pm-6am or so: 9-10 hrs), my body couldn't get used to it. I had vast issues with strange hunger, and I couldn't sleep in the day, despite trying to block out all light. I wasn't even able to do any training whatsoever. With no sleep, changed food patterns, no training, and definitely no friends or loved ones, that contract job was a recipe for disaster in all aspects of my life and lifestyle.

I think my body wanted daylight in daytime, and dark for sleep. I think the strange hunger and fatigue was due to my body's hormones were off-kilter: the body's supposed to run certain hormones as certain times in the day (thus the circadian rhythm), and mine were all messed up! Needless to say, I told the manager that I didn't want another mall gig -- I didn't do one again.

That being said, some people love night shift. (I also lived in Las Vegas where many people did. I worked afternoon-evenings in Vegas). If you can have a quality life --- sleeping, eating, training, social & love life, etc -- on a night shift, do what feels right!!

Lauren

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Lauren Muney
certified physical fitness trainer
certified health coach
wellcoach
http://www.physicalmind.com

There is no escape from your life... solve the problems and get on with it.

"Just tell her you love her and you think she kicks ass" ~AndrewinNH

"I'm moving [Lauren] to guru status" ~Last Tri in 83

IMO you should stay with the afternoons (we used to call it the Evening Shift. 3-11pm) and NOT work nights. I worked midnights as a State Trooper for 6 years, 11:00pm-7:00am... I'd sleep until about noon, train, and pick my daughter up later in the day. I'd go back to bed for 2 hours before going in to work. I'd work 5 days and then get 3 off, so sometimes I'd have to work weekends. I'd often go straight from work to running races. I was sick with colds ALL the time. It was great being able to train during the day but I was always exhausted and run down. Midnights make it really tough to have much of a social life. I know evenings are tough that way, but midnights are worse; you'll be totally out of sync with the rest of the world. I'd really encourage you to try to find a group of people that train during the day and stay with evenings!

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"In order to arrive at what you are not, you must move throught the way in which you are not."
T.S. Elliot

what i did notice also is if your schedule does change every week or every other week or whenever, you`ll never get used to it and if the nature of the job is physically demanding then for sure you`ll be tired in no time. as for me i work in the office so i`m on my ass the whole night but compared to people here in the office, i have totally reversed my day and not burn the candle on both ends. if its 11am then its 11 pm for me so, here a lot of people would get sick because they`d sleep a bit, let`s say till 12pm then go to the mall or do something else. best workouts for me are after work till 9am beyond that i feel cranky already. but my am/pm workouts are also great as lon as i get to drink a cup of coffee first before running or riding. running after work in the am is not the best for me, i feel like crap

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"Pain is NOT temporary,you remember every bit of it"

My shift options are limited to either 7:30pm-7:30am or 7:30am to 7:30pm. The number of shifts in a row varies, sometimes 4 in a row, then a couple of days off, then back on for two. Sometimes it's two on two off, etc. The upside, of course, is several days off in a row now and again. Basically the schedule is variable.
I agree with getting off nights for health reasons, it's definitely a strain. I'm 43 years old now, and feeling the effects. (I think what keeps me feeling and looking younger is my fitness level.) I used to be able to "turn around" from nights to normal day behaviour on my days off, but now I'm unable to do that. I am awake until 5am all days, then sleep probably until 2pm. I'm pretty sure it's not quality sleep. Just last week I broke my sleep record... 13 hrs straight after 4 night shifts. OMG! Talk about sleeping your life away. Up here in the northern hemisphere in winter I see about 3 hours of daylight, not good. My doctor advises me to get off nights if possible. I have to say there is one thing about nights that I love and that is the people. Nights definitely attracts a different personality than days, way more "chilled" and able to handle stressful situations much better than a dayshifter, IMHO. I've worked with the same group of individuals for several years now and I have to say I'd miss working with them.

Thought I'd weigh in again, as I just ranted last time. I've worked nights for over 3 yrs. My first 2 yrs were 4 PM-2 AM, tue-fri. It was great for training, my wife could go to school in the AM, and I spent several hours hanging out w/ my (then) 18 month old daughter every day- which was priceless, and made her a complete "Daddy's Girl". My wife didn't care for me being out of the house @ night (she's pretty traditional), but I got 6-7 hours of quality sleep and did not have any problem with Sunday races. 3 days off was sweet.
I now work 6PM-6AM sat-mon. I never feel good during my "workweek", and feel less energy than normal until about thursday. Have to take vacation to race, my boss does not like this. 4 days off sounds cool to the average person, but what is the cost? I'd rather have just 3 days off, and closer approximate normal hours/life.
In the end, what is more important? Only you know. Make money, but give up health and training or have the lifestyle you want with a bit less $. Personally, my company no longer matches the life my family and I want to lead, and will not change my hours. Funny thing is, they'll still ask why I would ever want to leave when I do.

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If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat

    Thanks for sharing your experiences guys, brought up some memories of the last time I chose night shift and the misery of being chronically sleep deprived. I guess I'll throw that that option out.