For the past 10 years, I have worked 7p to 7a at my job, and on my days/nights off, and have stayed awake during the daytime so I could sleep at night.
After thinking about it, however, I have decided that I am fighting my biological clock and have decided to keep the same hours whether I’m off or not.
In short, I will stay awake at night and sleep in the daytime All the time.
Your thoughts are appreciated and welcome as always.
Quasi
When I worked night shift as a security guard in my late teens, I slept during the day. I would go to bed at 8am and wake up at 4:30/5pm. I enjoyed my evening and slept well.
That was better than the 3-4 hours I sleep now that I work during the day. Even after 4 years of day jobs I still can’t break the night-time schedule.
A 6 PM - 6 AMer chiming in…rather than completely alternating my night shift schedule to fit in with the day shifters’ schedule I go to bed at 3 - 4 AM on my days off. This way I wake up at 12 - 1 PM which is late by day shift standards but not so late that I miss out on all of my daylight. The compromise makes me feel that even though I work atypical hours I still feel connected to the majority of society somehow. Also…I love the outdoors and cannot imagine ever completely switching over to my night shift schedule on my days off. I would miss the sun just too much.
I’ve been working the same schedule myself for 10 years.
First I have to ask do you get three and four day “weekends” like I do? If so I would have to say that going completely vampire would not be a good idea health wise becuase no matter how long you’ve been doing the night shift your body never really becomes a custom to it.
I’d give a cite to prove this but I’m too lazy. A quick search on Google for “night shift workers” will prove said point.
Myself I’ve gotten to the point where I just cat nap on my days off.
In other words I’ll sleep three or for hours stay up eight then go to sleep again for three to four hours. Its fun this way becuase it gives me a little taste for each part of the day; morning, noon and night.
Worst shifts I ever worked was in the Navy - 7PM-7AM for 2 days, then 24 hours off, then 7AM-7PM for 2 days and 96 hours off. Repeat and repeat and repeat for 6 months.
I never got myself on any kind of schedule. I’m amazed I didn’t kill myself commuting.
So, personally, I think the best thing anyone can do is work a consistent schedule. The biggest disadvantage of being up all night on your off-shift time is that TV stinks in the wee small hours! Too many infomercials. On the other hand, if there’s a 24-hour grocery store near you, that mundane chore can be much easier without all the riff-raff clogging the aisles! 
Back when I was able to do it, like when I was in school and didn’t work during the summers, I tended to naturally drift into a sleep all day, be awake all night schedule. I was never happier or felt more awake. No matter how many years I spend doing the 9am - 5pm thing I just can’t deal with mornings and always feel awake and alive at night. It’s very hard for me to get to sleep before 2:00am or so.
I keep the same hours on my days off as I do when I work evening shift. It makes it a little more inconvenient to get together with family but it’s a lot easier on me. Of course, I don’t know that I’m such a great example since I originally took this shift because it matched my usual hours of activity. I’ve simply never been a morning person.
I work approximately 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., five nights a week. It’s not a completely inverted schedule, but it’s close. I like the hours a lot; I sleep until about noon, then have a few hours to take care of business, then come in to work.
And I never, ever have to set my alarm.
My ex-hubby used to work a “rotating” shift:
one week days (5:00am-2:30pm)
one week swing (2:00-10:30pm)
one week graveyard (10:00pm-6:30am)
The companies philosopy? Because the jobs were mundane and rather boring (trained monkeys could do it), having a rotating shift made the employees more alert, and therefore SAFER in their jobs.
[cough]
BULLSHIT[
cough]
This was the absolute worst idea for any person, let alone a married person with a family. We fought all the time…on graveyard, he said he got NO sleep…I said ALL HE DID WAS SLEEP.) Our kids were 1 and 3, and let me tell you, it is almost impossible to keep toddlers quiet while daddy is sleeping.)
On the long weekend after dayshift (5 days, then graveyard) I would watch him start mentally gearing down for the graveyard
shift coming up.
He eventually went to a Dr. and asked “what sleep pattern should I follow?..what type of diet should I follow?..”(breakfast at night? lunch in the morning?)
The Dr. told him to eat what he could, when he could…same method for sleep, and recomended he find another job as soon as possible…he said that the rotating shift is the hardest on a body, both mentally and physically.
We were both exhausted the whole time.