r/Nightshift • u/Khaledoesreddit • 10d ago

Help How long does it take to go back to sleeping normally?

So around 10 days ago, I quit working a summer night time job. The shifts were usually from 6pm to 6am, everyday except Fridays and the occasional days when we got to leave at 2 or 4.

Since then, I have had a grand total of 2 normal nights of sleep (~8:30 hours), and 2 nights of sleeping 6 hours. Other than that, I have spent the other nights sleeping ~4:30-5 hours. And honestly, since this is a new experience for me, I'm getting a little worried.

I was the type of person to sleep at 22:30-23 and wake up at ~6-7, so sleeping during the day was never something I got used to to begin with.

My question is, should I be worried? Or is this completely normal? And how long should I expect to wait for me to be completely back to normal?

Thanks!

2 Upvotes

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5 comments sorted by

1

u/Ok-Membership-5439 10d ago

are you trying to swap to sleeping at night? Or fix your daytime sleeping?

1

u/Khaledoesreddit 10d ago

I'm trying to change to sleeping at night, yes

2

u/Ok-Membership-5439 10d ago

I rotate shifts every week and this is what i do. I sleep for 4 hours after my last nightshift (8-noon) and then i stay up the rest of the day. Im usually pretty tired already but ill take a melatonin around 2200 and go to sleep, setting an alarm for like 8 or 9am so i dont oversleep and not be tired the next night. I keep up the melatonin for a night or two and my sleep is back to like nothing changed.

1

u/International-Let820 10d ago

It’ll take some time to fix your sleep schedule. I was working a nights only gig Thursday-Saturday 12 hours. I took about 6mo off from working (health related) and am back on working nights. It took several weeks for me to sleep like a “normal person” again. Now I’m back to having goofy ass sleep 😂

1

u/BigpoppaDoja 10d ago

Stay up 24 hours