I am from the Engineering side of things, and, of course, the vast majority of our work is carried out at night. Most companies work 12hr shifts, two days two nights – “four off” in inverted commas as first day off is spent recovering and is to all intents and purposes useless, I liken it to jet lag.
My shift nominally is seven to seven, but, in a supervisory role, is extended by about half an hour by the need for a handover at either end of the working day.
I have been doing this all my working life. I find the points made by 3my to be quite accurate and how I approached shift work when I was younger.
As age takes it’s toll I find that for the first night I am better getting up at a relatively normal time about 08.30 and then, after a light lunch, returning to the pit at about 14.00 for three to three and a half hours sleep.
After shift virtually straight to bed say 07.30 and sleep for as long as possible, this is rarely any later than 15.00 and is usually broken at some stage due to bladder pressure.
The comment about sleep deprivation after the last night is well made although most I know don’t achieve much on the first day off.
Longer periods of nights under this regime are no problem although changing to ‘normal’ is harder, you might get two days of ‘jet lag’
I also endorse earplugs, especially if the house is occupied while trying to sleep, and eye shades, although I have a preference for blackout curtains.