[lettie]

I am currently on night shifts, I don't mind them once I get into the swing of it but it is the converting from nights back to days which kills me. It is like having constant jet lag.. and sometimes we have to do a quick turn around meaning that I may finish my nights at 8am on a Sunday morning and have to do the early shift at 7.30am on the Monday. I am fairly certain that those quick turnarounds are contravening the Euro Working Time Directive, but that's the NHS for you...

There has been plenty of research done into shift work in the past, mainly done in the USA. The studies found that the average shift worker dies, on average, 5 years earlier than non-shift workers (hence, shift allowances, they have to compensate you for your early death). I take comfort in knowing that I will be losing the last 5 years of my life, when, I won't remember my name, be peeing every time I cough and wishing I was dead any way...