Karl Fiebelkorn, an assistant manager at the Regency Square Home Depot, enjoys the solitude of working the night shift. -- Stuart Tannehill/Staff

Working all night
More and more employees are opting for the graveyard shift in hopes of moving up the corporate ladder or for earning more money

  See also For those considering pulling all-nighters...

By Mark Gordon
Times-Union business writer

While some employees have used night-time work as a way to get ahead in their careers, success has come with a price.

Dozens of surveys conducted over the past few years, both in the United States and Europe, have shown that people who work nights develop physical and mental health problems more severe than those who work solely days. Conditions researchers found vary, from depressive disorders to ulcers.

And besides their own health, workers on the night shift sometimes unknowingly create problems for those around them, most notably their children, according to a recent study by Harvard University's Center for Society and Health. The report, considered one of the first of its kind ever done on a national scale, links parents night-shift work to their kids having social and academic problems in school.

Counting sheep Sleep experts say there is no sure-fire way night-shift workers can get a good night's sleep. But here are some tips that late-night workers can use to help sleep better when their shift is over. Stop drinking coffee, tea or other drinks with caffeine long before going to bed. Avoid alcohol as a sleep inducing beverage. Sit in a well-lit room before going to bed: Terry Fisher, of the St. Vincent's Hospital Sleep Disorder Center said new studies have shown that light therapy, for 30 or 45 minutes before going to bed, can help people get into a better sleep rhythm. The light, usually coming from a bright source, acts as a wake-up call and tires the body. Exercise: A daily regime of some form of exercise helps the body tire out, and that makes for a better night's sleep. But Caroline Ivey, at the Baptist Medical Center Sleep Disorder Center, recommends exercising in the daytime, as opposed to right before going to bed. Don't get on your bed unless your going to sleep: "You want the bed to be a place you associate with sleep," Ivey said. "It's not a place to study, eat or watch television." Get up and go to bed at the same time every day, forming a sleeping habit.

And then there is the constant enemy nearly every overnight worker battles: Lack of a good night's sleep.

"It takes a tough toll on the body," said Jack Connolly, who worked several years of night shifts as a New York City street cop before opening a Long Island, N.Y., shift-work consulting business in 1990. "Working the night shift is hard."

Sleeping problems are the No. 1 complaint of night-shift workers, workplace experts said. Part of the problem relates to what is known as the circadian rhythm -- basically a "chemical reaction in the brain that kicks in when you're tired," said Terry Fisher, a technician at the St. Vincent's Hospital Sleep Disorder Center in Jacksonville.

The problem with helping many sleep-deprived patients, Fisher said, is that no two circadian rhythms are the same. One person could be on a 22-hour pattern, where every 22 hours he or she gets sleepy; someone else, even someone working the same job, can be on a 27-hour cycle, Fisher said.

One thing is for certain, though, sleep experts said, anyone who wants to improve his or her sleep has to set up time between the end of work and when the head hits the pillow. That time can be spent doing anything relaxing, like watching TV, reading books or listening to music. Caffeine-heavy drinks should be avoided during this period.

"Everybody needs wind down time after work," Fisher said, "so they can get their body to go sleep."

Many of the First Coast night soldiers realize all the potential problems and hazards with working the late-night shift, but they stick it out, looking for more money or a better career opportunity. Denise Patricolo, who works an overnight shift Fridays and Saturdays at the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village, runs into the sleep and child-care concerns every weekend.

"When I come home on Sunday, I sleep all day," Patricolo said. "On Monday I get up and I'm a normal person again."

But while she sleeps the day away Sunday -- something medical and workplace experts say is crucial for the first day after a hectic work pace -- her 14-month-old baby is without her mother. (Patricolo's husband, Frank, does the bulk of the child-care work on Sundays.)

Patricolo's dilemma is similar to ones detailed in a recent book by Harvard University researcher Jody Heymann called The Widening Gap: Why America's Working Families are in Jeopardy -- and What Can be Done About It. Heymann, behind the Center for Society and Health survey, reports that "parents who do evening work clearly have less time to spend with their school-age children."

The study goes on to show that children with at least one night-working parent are more likely to score in the bottom group on math and reading tests. And those same children are three times as likely to get suspended from school.