Balancing Regular Night Shifts with Class A reservist training

[Brasidas]

I've begun working night shifts as my regular routine, and I expect that routine to be disrupted a lot -through rapid turnaround with summer courses and my unit's Class A training days. I've had experience with night shifts before, but I've never had to deal with what will effectively be split shifts. I'm interested in others' suggestions on managing sleep in this situation.

I'll be starting my 5's next month, then returning about a month later going back to night shifts. Afterward, I'll be expected to train regularly at my unit, including Saturday workdays and full ex's Friday nights through Sunday afternoons. Sleep during ex's will naturally be during my regular working hours.

When I'm tired, I'll sleep. It's never been much of a problem for me. But if anybody's found some habits that help them with split shifts, I'd be interested.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Napping whenever possible......has gotten me through 21 years of the 2 weeks of days followed by 2 weeks of nights 12 hour shift shuffle.

 

[GAP]

Napping whenever possible......has gotten me through 21 years of the 2 weeks of days followed by 2 weeks of nights 12 hour shift shuffle.

he's a TTC ticket taker.... ;D

 

[kratz]

Talk to your unit ahead of time. If you can get your schedual's from work and the unit three months (or more) in advance, you can plan your work and reserve duties accordingly. If done right, your unit will approve you to miss some training time in order to be safe in your civilian job and have quality of life.