Some people can easily adjust to nights. Most people cannot. I’m a natural nightfighter, and always have been. I estimate that 15-20% of the population are natural "night people"
I have worked 11-7 by choice since August of 1977.
I'm single so I don't have to worry about kids or a wife waking me up in the middle of the day. The phone with the answering machine is in the living room.
I have thick blackout curtains on the windows of my bedroom. And a ceiling fan to provide white noise. I sleep best in a cold environment, so I keep the A/C turned on in the summer and the heat turned down low in the winter.
I usually go to sleep between 8 and 9 in the morning and get up about 5 in the afternoon.
I like the midnight shift because it leaves my evenings free, and I can do whatever I want before work, as long as it doesn't involve consuming alcohol. (The indoor range at the gun club I belong to is available until 9 o’clock now which is wonderful)
As far as caffeine goes, I try to fire up about two hours before shift, or have a big cup of coffee in briefing, and then try to avoid any heavy caffeine the rest of the shift. No caffeine the last 4 or 5 hours of the tour unless I'm desperate.
I usually drink tea at home, coffee in the PD and iced green tea on the road.
Sometimes I take half a generic Tylenol PM before sleeping. It usually works pretty well but not always.
I have experimented with melatonin at different doses at different times over the years but it didn't seem to have any particular effect for me.
Most noise doesn't bother me when sleeping. The neighbor kids can play right under my bedroom window and I sleep right through it. Same with lawnmowers or snow plows.
I used to have problem staying asleep in the summer when the sun is really bright -- I would wake up at about 1pm and have difficulty getting back to sleep. That isn’t as much of a problem since I moved into Dad’s old house because he had worked nights for years and had blackout curtains in the bedroom. That room stays DARK.
On my first day off, I usually go to bed about 9am and then wake up by 2pm. I can then (usually) go back to sleep again about midnight. (My understanding is, if you stay up too much after 11pm your body thinks you’re going to be awake all night and releases cortisol to keep you awake)
Often if I go to bed early (9pm or so) I wake up again about 3:30 and then can’t get back to sleep until 8 or 9 in the morning. Which sucks if the plan of the day involves working a day shift (which I try to avoid) or attending a class or a pistol match or a training event, because I tend to start getting fogged in about noon.
On my first day back I don't have any fixed routine -- I have tried but found nothing that worked particularly well other than a short nap in late afternoon before going to work.
My dad worked the midnight shift as a mechanical supervisor for many years. He is NOT a natural “night person” but he was very disciplined in his sleep pattern and he made it work for about 25 years. On his first day off (Friday), he’d go to bed at 8am and get up shortly after noon and then be up and able to sleep at night for the next few nights. On his first day back (Sunday) he’d get up about 5am and be up until about 2pm, and then he’d go to sleep until about 6pm and then wake up and have dinner and then go in to work at 10. That worked for him for a long time.
I know lots of guys who stay up all day on their first day off (like go 24+ hours awake) I have almost never done that unless I had training or OT or court or something during the day that precluded my going to sleep.
I can still go in at 3pm and work a double shift pretty well (although now I try to avoid it) but now that I'm 60+ I can't work all night and then work all day anymore. At least not usually.
One thing I have learned is that I ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT eat after work before going to sleep.
I put on weight if I even THINK about doing that. And now that I'm old, I get heartburn if I eat and then try to sleep.
I usually have a protein shake when I get home, and then go to sleep.
For me, having the room really dark isn't essential. It just has to be shadowy. Temperature seems to be a bigger factor. But, the darker the better.
But everybody has different experiences, and people’s preferences will probably change over time
Some people can easily adjust to nights. Most people cannot. Whether or not you can adjust to working nights is something that people should think through when considering law enforcement or any other career that operates on a 24/7 schedule.
I always thought that was something that should be considered during the selection process for any job involving non-traditional hours – has the applicant ever worked a job where they worked evenings or nights, and weekends and holidays?