It was difficult. I used to have trouble adjusting to working the early shift when it was five a.m. to one p.m.; it was moved to a three a.m. start some years back and has been trouble for me every time I have to fill in for the techs who usually work it.
Even using the weekend to gradually change my hours didn't help much. I was muzzy when I woke, staggered through getting ready, managed to be fairly alert for the trip in and for about the first hour and a half of my shift, then I'd just run out of energy. More than once, I woke up face-down on my desk, just slumped forward in my chair. Yesterday, it was a struggle to stay awake while walking.
Need to do a better job moving my body clock the next time I work this shift. I've slacked off on the vitamin B and some of that might have helped, too.
Did you ever try completely reversing night and day? [Sleep during the afternoon/early evening..."breakfast" about 9 or 10 PM, chores or writing between the meal and leaving for work, errands on the way home from work, go to bed about 1 or 2 PM, ad iteram...]
ReplyDeleteI forget what the getting up time was, but I do remember when we had a shift that meant getting to work at 0500.
ReplyDeleteGood news was that you only rotated into the shift every 3-4 months or so.
Good news was no traffic inbound.
Bad news was awful traffic homeward bound.
Bad news was turning into a zombie in the early evening.
Jeffrey Smith, that was pretty much my shift for the first ten years or more in this job. We had big tube transmitters and shut down for a few hours every night, when I would work on them. Back then I could do it pretty well.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that as we get older, it becomes more difficult to deal with time zone changes. Essentially, that is what you are trying to accomplish, without the aid of a proper sunlight display to key your body to the change. I wonder if one of those sunlight lamps might help?
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