I’m interviewing for a night shift position in a couple days and I’ve always worked 8-4 or 9-5. I’m a little scared of the idea though! I’m worried about seeing my family less because my sleep schedule will be totally different than theirs.
So, night shift workers of the world, what has your experience been like and how do you manage being present in your family life?
Worked them for some years and they literally caused me to start having panic attacks. Hate them.
If it’s straight nights it might not be too bad. I worked 2 days/2 nights/4 off for about 13 years and I would not go back now that I’m in a 9-5.
Unless you’re getting decent compensation for it, I would try and find something else. Humans just aren’t nocturnal.
I loved being able to sleep in, do what I felt like doing during the day, and then going to work. I also enjoyed being alone at night.
It was hard on my body, though. I don’t think my brain ever fully adjusted, because on the weekends it was like my body tried to switch me back to a normal schedule (because I was hanging out with family and friends), and I had to re-adjust on Monday. It also doesn’t really work with dating. And I wanted to kill the landscaping people who would trim the hedges at my apartment complex at 10am.
Look up “night shift belly.” I did night audit at a hotel for a year and a half. By the end, I could only really stomach eating the kale salad from Whole Foods and not much else.
It also wrecked my social life and when I got sick, I got really sick, so I think my immune system was out of whack in general.
Like others have said, the commute is a dream. The shift itself is quiet with plenty of time to have deep conversations with any coworkers you may have, read, listen to podcasts, etc. It’s like living in a different world.
I say give it a try, but listen to your body and find something else soon if your health is affected.
Blackout curtains, melatonin, whatever you can to control your sleep and block out noise and light are a must. The ice cream man can be your enemy. Stock up on emergency 5 hour energies, I like to have soylent in reserve too because sometimes food and shit won’t be available.
I won’t lie, night shift strained many of my relationships. It took quite a bit from me. But it can give back too. Things like audiobooks and videogames replaced drinking at bars with friends. Have solo hobbies prepared.
There’s a temptation to become diurnal on weekends that will work against you.
Also, you have to be firm about your schedule with people. They don’t consider night shifts in their plans, so you want to make sure you let people know often what can or can’t work with your sleep cycle.
Mostly dark. But also quiet.
Are you already a night owl? If so, it’s fine. Just working, very few distractions, no meetings.
If you’re a Sun child, it’s going to be horrible. I can’t give specifics because I’m a night owl, but from what others have told me, it’s awful.
Night shift is the fucking best if you have ADHD. You have no traffic at all on your commute to and from work, you just show up and do your job (no useless phone calls or emails to distract you), you eat lunch at like fuckin 1am so there’s no crowd, you get done with your work and just clock out (no stupid-ass meetings), and when you get home you just crash and sleep for as long as you want. Wake up at like noon, and you’ve got the whole afternoon to run errands or fuck off, and then casually go back to work that night.
Exactly this. Only important thing is to stick to your sleeprythm also on your days off. So stay up all through the night even when you are not at work!!
In a perfect world. I work a 12hr graveyard shift and flip to dayshift schedule on my days off.
You need to do it in a structured way. Get home, nap a few hours, go to bed at a normal bedtime, wake up, a dash of adderall. Good to go.
Structured AF
I did it for seven years. I recommend earplugs and a white noise machine when you sleep. Stick to a strict sleep schedule. Take lots of Vitamin D when you wake up. I was taking 5000 IUs a day when I was on overnights, it helped immensely.
I’ve been working a night shift for a few years now. Last 2 of which have been from at home. The social isolation is real. The only people you’ll ever really get to hang out with outside of work, are the people you work with, since most of your normal-sleep-schedule-having friends aren’t gonna be available when you are. There also won’t be anywhere good to hang out at because everything’s closed by the time you’re off work.
Most of the world isn’t designed for people with our schedule, unfortunately. Need to go to the post office for something? You’re gonna have to either get up early or stay up late to do it. Need to do something that can really take up some time, like go to the DMV? You might need to schedule some time off, because that’ll ruin your sleep schedule for a few days.
Being able to retain your sanity on this schedule really does require a bit of self-sufficience. You’ll need to rely less on services that aren’t available at night. You’ll need to get comfortable with losing sleep to get important stuff done. It’s tough, and while a lot of companies pay a differential to hourly employees on the night shift, it’s rarely enough to justify the toll it takes on you if you don’t have the right mindset for it.
The differential is usually not enough. I mean almost no income is enough to lose sleep time and time again. Just saying.
Anyway. I’m curious, so please share. What do you do exactly and how did you get to L2?
I did 4 years of nights. The real trick is being able to sleep during the day. So whatever ear plugs, face mask, blackout curtains you need, make sure they work for you. I generally would work up to it staying up until 2 AM, then 5 AM, then going to work. I believe that most people found that they had more time with their family because instead of being at work 8-12 hours during the day, they were only sleeping 6-7, and were home when their kids were getting up, going to school, coming home, etc.
The night shift for me was the purest form of hell. My favorite shift was the 2-10, 3-11.
Like 2nd shift or morning shift?
prolly 2nd, mornings are really busy depending on where you work
Mixed bag in my opinion.
The good: No traffic, get to know yourself better since you have a lot of time for reflection, discover way more media (podcasts, books, games, movies) because you’re always doing the night owl thing, always have an excuse to get out of social events during the day time, easy to go to doctor appointments during the day before work, feels like you have a ton of free time, usually meet interesting people on the night shift (see bad part of this below), get to dress down, don’t have to see a high level boss usually, things feel more profound late at night - you’ll have a much deeper appreciation for all that media I described (try some music or an audiobook at night - better yet, try writing. I always feel things deeper at night), get to see the moon all the time which I absolutely love more than anything, etc.
The bad: sleep schedule will be like being a teenager again, there will be days where the sun is shining and you can hear lawnmowers which will make you sleep like garbage, you’ll probably eat like shit, seeing friends and family is hard, friends and family will not understand that you need to sleep during the day - trust me, you’ll meet the outcasts of society on night shift along with all those interesting people I mentioned and some of them will be weird or off-putting, you’ll feel super lonely at times but it’ll be kind of nice somehow (???), you’ll have too much time alone with your thoughts, you’ll be doing shit during the day but have work hanging over your head for hours whereas normal people work and have free time after work to look forward to, driving home tired in the early morning is like having a hangover somehow, etc.
Personally, I’m glad I’m not doing it these days. After COVID, stores aren’t open 24/7 anymore. Night shopping on days off was the best and not being able to get stuff at night now sucks.
Definitely not for everyone. I did it for a little over a year. I could never get adjusted to it. Makes me appreciate my day job more.
For some people it’s not too bad, and during the summer it’s not that bad.
During the winter though it’s hell. The days are short that you basically never see the sun.
During the whole affair though you’ll have to supplement your Vitamin D, especially during the winter.
