Has anyone experienced burn out due to shift work and night shift?

[AZ8]

I took a 46% pay cut to save my life. No regrets!

I was smart to buy all my toys, optics, side by side... etc while still making bank. At 55, that stuff will last me until I can't hike the hills anymore.

 

[307]

Can I ask what $100 an hour job is?

Assuming full time schedule that's $650k/year!

 

[weekender7]

3 years ago I switched into a rotating day/night shift schedule for a increase in pay.

The days are long. I leave the house at 5 am and get home at 7 pm. I only do nights once a month but it is for a 7 night stretch.

Over the last few years I have started to notice that I don’t get as excited for my hobbies or hunting trips. For example packing for a long trip seems like a daunting challenge now and the effort involved is overwhelming. I remember years ago I packed weeks in advance just on pure excitement for the trip.

So I am wondering if this could be possible burn out from the job or just getting older and not enjoying the same things in life?

I have never been a quitter and always ran with mindset of “never quit” “tough it out other people work the same shift”

Also has anyone took a reduction in pay for a better work to life balance and regretted it?


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkSpent 3 years straight working 2pm to 12:00 a

 

[weekender7]

Spent 3 years working 2pm to 12am an hours drive one way from home. I hated every minute of it. Some of it was 7 days a week. I started looking and lucked up on something else to get me out of that rut.

 

[sierracharlie338]

3 years ago I switched into a rotating day/night shift schedule for a increase in pay.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

F all that everyday and twice on sundays.

Also has anyone took a reduction in pay for a better work to life balance and regretted it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure have. Was the best move I could have made for my mental health and stress levels.

 

[oldskool67]

I work in LE and rotating shift work is part of the life. Between other first responder careers the science seems pretty clear that rotating and night shift has the potential to hurt your endocrine system. I talked to a firefighter in his 20s at a training last month who’s T was in the low 100s.

The positives don’t seem to outweigh the potential negatives. It definetly did not work for me and I got off of rotating schedules as soon as possible.

That’s actually a pretty normal T level for a fire fighter…

 

[cb2176]

It's tough. Gets a bit harder when we need the money but are intentionally staying away from the family chasing $.

 

[timekiller13]

Night shift work just plain sucks.

I switched to night shift about 8 months ago. They dangled the proverbial carrot in front of me (more money) and i took the bait.

I’m exhausted all the time. Never feel like I sleep right. On the days I work, I’m happy if I sleep 4 hours. On the days I’m off, I feel like I could sleep 20 hours and still not feel rested.

I’m going back to days soon. I’m going to take a 15% pay cut but I don’t care.

 

[BLJ]

Last Friday morning was my last night. Tries It for 2 months and it was not working. All the down sides mentioned already with a small increase in pay as the only benefit.
Form talking to the other guys I was looking at 5-6 years before I would have enough seniority to bid day shift. Hard pass. Not worth it for me.
If you’re miserable it’s not worth it.
And to the OP, I hope you can find a way out. Good luck.

 

[Fatcamp]

Floor nursing rotated day and night 12 hour shifts. Tried everything to sleep and it threw off my rhythm so bad life was starting to suck.

There were other things going on but I'm convinced the sleep issue was a huge contributor to depression creeping in.

Switched to an OR position with plenty of stress, but all days. Problems resolved quickly.

 

[Azhunter10]

It’s not worth the extra money! I switched from a graveyard schedule 7pm-5am. And I don’t remember how I even got home some days, like I don’t remember the drive at all. My family life suffered and I couldn’t sleep during the day.

I took the pay cut and went to dayshift, 5am to 1pm and couldn’t be happier. My home life, work life and kids are all happier for it!

We only have one life, and it’s not worth it to be miserable!

 

[madcalfe]

I've been working in the oil and gas industry for 15 years. my rotations usually consist of 24 days on and 10 days off, 13-14 hours a day. the amount of days I work are usually flexible as I usually make my own schedule. there's times when ill crush out 35 days in a row or more and take say 3 weeks off. I take every august off to go sheep hunting no matter what. You definitely get burnt out but being able to make my own schedule and the amount of pay makes it worth it to me.

 

[Balderdash]

Like another poster in this thread, I work in the fire/EMS service. Been at it 25 years; 12 of it was on an ambulance rotation on a busy rig wherein sleep within a 24 hour shift was almost non existent. Also worked a side job doing carpentry for most of it.

I've always loved the job (both jobs, I should say), but as I get older and look back, there's just no denying the toll lack of sleep takes on one's overall fitness, wellness, relationships, etc. Most fire departments work a 56 hour week, which was likely a better fit in the 60's when the FLSA language allowing it was passed. At that time, most departments did fire suppression only and there was more down time and regular sleep in the 56 hour work week. Now EMS and ambulance work is pretty standard, yet the 24 hour shift remains. On the department I work for, our slowest engine is now 2X busier than our busiest engine was in the mid 90's.

As much as its an interesting and challenging job that I still get a kick out of, I don't think I'd do it again, or at least not on the 56 hour schedule. I'm still at it, so I'm conflicted on what the best answer is, but I've come to the realization that a person has to take care of themselves in order to enjoy an engaged and fulfilling life, and it's just a reality that there's certain job circumstances that make doing so difficult. We still live in a free-ish country where one can make choices about work and location, and I dont think it's wrong to prioritize wellbeing over monetary bottom line, so long as one can still meet obligations.

 

[mtwarden]

While I didn’t love working 16-20 hour during the peak of hunting season; “shifting” shift work took a much deeper toll.

Body isn’t very well designed to a changing sleep pattern

 

[Steve300xcw]

, there's just no denying the toll lack of sleep takes on one's overall fitness, wellness, relationships, etc.

Yup.

During the snowy months I used to plow logging road. Depending on the weather, the hours worked got pretty stupid. Pretty much turned you into a zombie. Always took a while for my body to recover from that

 

[flyfisher117]

I've been feeling the same. Not working shift work but shit hours, salary worker expected to be logging over time every week, somehow keep getting assigned big projects with September due dates. So no time to take extended weekends and get my money's worth of hunting trips.

All week long I sit at work thinking about getting out and doing stuff. The weekend roles around and thought of packing and going just doesn't sound fun.

I sometimes consider a job with a pay cut but better work life. Sometimes I consider an entire career change. Just don't have the balls to do it.

 

[TaperPin]

Keep in mind we all change with age - in every walk of life, the night shifts are overwhelmingly a younger crowd. I used to pride myself on being the oldest guy excited about last minute all nighters at work, but we all get over that. I don’t have the same excitement level to do a lot of things, but I feel that’s at a similar level to other guys my age.

The best advice is get a checkup and blood work, and keep healthy mentally and physically.

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

There is a ton of research showing that night shifts and sleep cycle disruption are really bad for you.

The "suck it up" mentality gets men dead. Take care of your health.

 

[roadrunner]

Can I ask what $100 an hour job is?

A drilling engineer can pay that as well.

 

[roadrunner]

Work/careers/jobs can certainly suck the life out of you, especially when you report to those that do not hunt or fish.

Currently in the same boat. Even when younger as a drilling engineer in the O&G industry, I still had enthusiasm to go.

That's changed and now it seems like a chore to go. I've noticed that it's made me a little more disinterested in things that should matter and am a little more short with people at times. I think age has something to do with it also.

Hopefully this will change soon with a new prospect I working on.