Swing shift brain fade

OK, I just started my new job. I’m working swing. Most of my working life, I have worked days, and I’m finding that somewhere around midnight, parts of my brain start falling asleep. This is not good, as my job demands a lot of mental alertness.

I plan to stay up during the same hours that I would normally be working on my nights off, to maintain the sleep cycle.

Coffee doesn’t seem to help much with the brain fade. Ginseng helps a little, but I’m still struggling to keep alert.

Anybody have any ideas of how I can keep awake and alert while my body is getting used to the idea of working nights?

Maybe a little sugar would help. Part of the fatigue is absed on falling blood glucose levels. In fact, sleep deprivation studies have found that when the “guinea pig” volunteers were denied sleep, much more oxygen and glucose were required for the brain to stay awake.

But everyone is different, so suck it and see.

sleep with your eyes open, standing up. it can be done, i do it all the time, but then i drink beer and smoke while i am asleep. get used to partying all nite, even when your working, work has to be fun.

Kiwi-

I actually did fall asleep on a live game once. OK, I only had two players on my side. I had worked swing shift for three weeks at a real fleabag joint before I ran screaming into the streets, got a job at a nicer place working graveyard. The whole three weeks at the previous job, I was averaging maybe two hours of sleep a day, and my second or third day on the job at the new place, the world just kind of went black for a few seconds.

I felt myself starting to fall, that’s what woke me up.

As an 11 year veteran of swing shifts I can tell you it’ll take at least 3-4 months to get FULLY accustomed to the hours.My hardest time to stay awake was 10-11pm.If you can,get up and walk around or better yet get a breath of fresh air outside.Avoid sugar and caffeine unless absolutly necessary.You tend to “bonk” or crash really hard after coming down from a sugar or caffeine energy jolt.
When you go home do you go right to sleep? What works for me is a “cooldown” period.Watch TV or read for an hour or so,this seems to help the mental end of it.If you stay up until 1-2 am,than 10 or 11pm doesn’t seem so late.

The last advice here (Rich) is sensible. If you can’t take it gradually, say one hour/week, try whatever works better for you. Try to avoid druds, sugar, alcohol. You may try some mild (OTC) sleeping meds at home, so you’ll sleep longer hours and your bod can stay awake longer.