Does anyone here work fulltime second shift? i.e. 2 or 3 PM to near midnight?

I know from personal experience that I prefer it a lot better than a midnight (or graveyard) shift.

Your sleep pattern is sort of normal on 2nd shift. Night shift? Forgetaboutit.

Good luck.

Perfect schedule for training. You can sleep in and you don't need an alarm. Also, you're able to train while rested in the mid morning. Less social life at night is the opportunity cost.

gfdgfdg wrote:

Perfect schedule for training. You can sleep in and you don't need an alarm. Also, you're able to train while rested in the mid morning. Less social life at night is the opportunity cost.

somewhat hard to double though, unless you like running at 1 am. You have to run right away after waking and then again late in the morning or early afternoon.

I worked that shift for a summer while i was in college. I loved being able to sleep in, and it worked out pretty well for my running.

I work 10-days-shifts (3 pm-2 am) about 8 times a year. I can comfortably double using the pause in the evening and my sleep pattern is not impacted. (However, I have issues with the altitude and the extreme UV index, in particular for the late morning run.)

I worked 1-9pm full time over the summer and loved it. Sleeping in until noon and enjoying a peaceful night everyday was great. Bad for my tan though...

Edward Teach wrote:

Perfect schedule for training. You can sleep in and you don't need an alarm. Also, you're able to train while rested in the mid morning. Less social life at night is the opportunity cost.

Summer can be tough as it can be hard to get up before it gets too hot. On the flip side, for us northerners, winter training for a spring marathon is much easier. Running midday when the sun is out makes winter bearable.

gfdgfdg wrote:

somewhat hard to double though, unless you like running at 1 am. You have to run right away after waking and then again late in the morning or early afternoon.

It depends where you work. I can go to the gym at work and get a short run in at lunch around 7-8 pm a couple times/week usually.

When I used to stay up late nights at the lab I asked one of the technicians how he felt about late night shifts. He said he much preferred the midnight-8AM shift to the 4PM-midnight shift because it was a lot easier to see his friends during the week, or even on weekends (in the evenings) if he didn't have to be at work from 4PM-Midnight. The idea was that you're switching normal working hours with sleeping hours.

I'm not sure if he had issues with sleep or not, but you can always just get something to cover your eyes.

He was also extremely obese, the most obese person I've ever met who was actually capable of walking without assistance, so I don't think the timing of outdoor activities were a factor for him.

I used to work those hours and at the time I liked it. The main problem though was being able to see friends as in the week it was almost impossible. I solved that by getting my best friend to work at the same place on the same shift.

I've never worked true nights so I don't know how those compare.

I work 3-11:30 and don't like it. Really hurts your social life. I only see friends on Saturdays and Sundays now. Sometimes on Thursdays and Fridays if they stay out late, but that's not often. It pays more money, so there is incentive. Work slows down a lot at night and so instead of working on multiple projects, there's usually only one bigger thing to work on, if there's anything at all. I have a lot of time to read and play chess on my phone, which is nice, but I also have trouble staying awake. I need a Redbull pretty much every night. I should also mention that we're not technically allowed to have phones out at my job, but the swing shift offers the benefit of supervisors who are more lax about phone use. If I worked the day shift, I wouldn't be able to interact on my phone. I also have a hard time sleeping in, so I'm usually up at 8 or 9 am anyway even though I go to bed around 4am now.

Pros: More money, more free-time at work.

Cons: Limited social life during the week. Immense boredom at the job sometimes.