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?
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
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.
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 fucking love night shifts. For the last two years I’ve worked exclusively night shifts (23:00-7:00 or 19:00-7:00).
Super unhealthy though - I often sleep only two or three hours before my shift, and I do stuff all day.
This works for me since I never really slept much (I would often stay awake till 3-4 in the morning after work).
With night shifts I just do the same but I get to work when there isn’t much work to do and do stuff I want to do during daytime.
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.
I personally love working nights. I’m not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I am actively worse at things the earlier I wake up. Conversely my brain feels clearer and more active after 10pm.
That being said, my social life is almost entirely online. I rarely go out IRL. I sleep like a rock and only need about 6 hours anyway.
If you are someone who needs to talk to people, has trouble sleeping during the day, or requires a lot of sleep, the night shift is likely not for you.
Some people are built for it, some aren’t.
Overnight wasn’t bad because I could sleep while the kiddo was at school. 2nd is pretty rough though if you have a family.
What’s it like working night shift?
- constant fatigue
- constantly explaining to the same people over and over that you are not available in the daytime because that’s when you sleep
source: worked night shift for many years
also weight gain. I worked 6pm-6am for almost 2 years straight and gained 40lbs without changing my eating habits.
started drinking every morning after work too. and days (nights) off were a total clusterfuck. wake up, hit the grocery store before they close, start drinking because wtf else am I gonna do at 11pm alone in my camper with no wifi and spotty cell signal. my experience is probably not the norm lol
If you started drinking everyday your eating habits changed. You started taking in more calories.
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
I worked nights for fifteen straight years and honestly, it isn’t all bad… Provided you get the sleep sorted. The amount of people who rolled up thinking they could survive on 4 hours of sleep a day was pretty disturbing.
Your concerns are valid, you absolutely will see your family less. If you’re not okay with that, that’s okay! Also keep in mind that the world is not on a night shift. It’s significantly harder to sleep normal hours when everything is going on the regular day schedule. That might not matter where you are but where I live that means more noise, more sirens, more people coming and going and keeping me awake. I’m a naturally light sleeper so when I had to work nights I had to go an extra mile or two. Blackout curtains are essential, and you may want to shove a towel under the door if the sun angle is unfavorable and shines it there. I also needed a facemask and ear plugs until I discovered I preferred a nice white noise maker. I still sleep with a white noise machine to this day, love it.
There are good things to night shift too. Less bullshit all around generally. Depending on what you’re doing that can be good or bad. It can be mind numbingly boring if you don’t have a set amount of work to do.
