On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 11:53:47AM -0500, Chad Dailey wrote:
+1. I'd go to six months, having been the night shift bitch. Flipping shifts around damn near killed me.
On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Mark Green <ktm200exc@hotmail.com> wrote:
Suggestion; once on the 'night shift' stay put for at least three months... Sleep patterns take time to adjust. Jumping between day and night shifts will burn out even the most motivated employee.
Amen. There is evidence that, other things being relatively equal, people working rotating shifts have shorter life expectancies and that the faster the rotation, the shorter the expectancy gets. There also is some evidence that people working rotating shifts are more likely to get cancer. My experience: 6 on, 2 off, 8 hours, rotating to the next later shift: I never, ever got enough sleep -- for 2 years. 6 on, 2 off, 12 hours, straight mids, no rotation: much less bad. 5 on, 2 off, 8 hours, straight mids: quite tolerable. 5 on, 2 off, 8 hours, straight swings (1600-0000): out of phase with the world. YMMV; I expect it to. -- Mike Andrews, W5EGO mikea@mikea.ath.cx Tired old sysadmin