Shifts Quotes

“If you really want to mess someone up, you sleep deprive them.”
― Steven Magee

“It took just three years of working extreme night shifts to wreck my health!”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“I would run down like a battery during my extreme night shifts and I would never fully recover during the week off between them. I would start my next set of extreme night shifts in a sickly state.”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“There were times I was so fatigued and confused at the end of my extreme night shifts that I could not shut down the facility. I would have to wait for the day staff to show up and let them take over the task.”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“One can only wonder what the motivation is for Mauna Kea astronomers to subject their nighttime support staff to extremely long and fatiguing night shifts when they are easily avoidable.”
― Steven Magee

“But like so many phenomena that were beautiful at a distance—thunderheads, volcanic eruptions, the stars and planets—this alluring pain proved, at closer range, to be inhuman in its scale.”
― Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

“You should put daily practices into place to aid in this maintenance, such as meditation or stillness. In meditation, you are able to go within and have the realization of what actually needs to be adjusted or shifted, such as a thought or belief. It’s important that your individual daily practice is consistent and that you are honest in this space about your findings.”
― Victoria L. White, Learning To Love: And The Power of Sacred Sexual Spiritual Partnerships

“Trying to get a good sleep at high altitude during the daytime between extreme night shifts generally required sleeping tablets.”
― Steven Magee

“The longer I worked extreme night shifts, the less effective energy drinks became. Eventually I stopped drinking them as they would have no effect on me. I would drink one and go to sleep when home during the daytime.”
― Steven Magee

“The most stimulants I have taken in life were during my extreme night shifts to keep me awake.”
― Steven Magee

“Night shift workers typically suffer from solar radiation deficiency sickness.”
― Steven Magee

“Telescope coordinates are 12 numbers long. After a couple of years working extreme night shifts on the very high altitude summit of Mauna Kea, I could no longer remember the numbers that were read out to me by astronomers.”
― Steven Magee

“It was well known to the team of eight extreme night shift workers that group needed nine workers to prevent overwork and accumulation of excess night shift hours that could not be taken because there were not enough workers to cover for the absence.”
― Steven Magee

“Out of a group of eight extreme night shift workers, I was aware of four workers who appeared to be displaying symptoms of depression. That is fifty percent of the team. That number may be higher if you include those that were already on successful depression treatment and were not publicly showing the symptoms.”
― Steven Magee

“While working extreme night shifts, I would take digestive supplements to offset gastrointestinal problems that would develop at the very high altitude summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA.”
― Steven Magee

“I would run down like a battery during several extreme night shifts atop the very high altitude summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.”
― Steven Magee

“If you want to make a healthy person become sickly, you sleep deprive them.”
― Steven Magee

“Nasty chapped lips was always a problem at the end of several night shifts atop the very high altitude summit of Mauna Kea.”
― Steven Magee

“Cola and pizza was my first daytime meal after a week of extreme night shifts, followed by explosive diarrhea!”
― Steven Magee

“Night shifts are known for their ability to damage workers health.”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“There was never sufficient time for restorative sleep during the really long winter astronomy night shifts.”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“The only way I could get to sleep between my night shifts was to use sleeping tablets.”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“It was with the benefit of hindsight I realized I had been hired into a known biologically toxic job.”
― Steven Magee, Night Shift Recovery

“Night shift work is known to cause shift work disorders.”
― Steven Magee

“Night shift work is a known trigger of depression symptoms.”
― Steven Magee

“Want to wreck your long-term health? All you need to do is work the night shift for years.”
― Steven Magee

“Free speech is the cornerstone of a society that aspires to genuine progress. It encourages the exploration of unconventional ideas, paving the way for paradigm shifts and breakthroughs that propel us forward. By embracing the diversity of thought, we ensure that our collective journey is marked by continual discovery, innovation, and the dynamic evolution of the human experience.”
― James William Steven Parker