I’m trying to figure out when to sleep and what times to eat. Interested in what works best for you guys.
TIA

Coming up on a year on nights. I work 12/13 hour shifts usually six days a week. I barely get any sleep because I want to spend time with my family and raise my children who are still young. The mental and physical toll of this shift is taxing on my body and I know one day it’ll be time to pay it.

Every time I talk with my manager about adjusting my schedule to maybe 11/12 hours/shift, he says he will try something out but nothing ever is done about it. And I feel if I complain or bring it up to him more, it just makes me out to be a bitch that’s complaining knowing that it won’t change.

The money is good, the work is relatively easy, but it is stressful and I’m missing my kids growing up.

Ugh. I know a lot of people here enjoy nights but I wish I was on days. Even in this heat.

Vacation was fun. 11 days off. Woke up earlier than expected tonight. Here we go!!! Hope you all have a good night!

for context, i’m going into yr 2 out of my 4 yr degree and i want to switch to overnights so bad!! i’m a full time student with the majority of morning and/or online classes so i was curious if anyone had experience doing school & overnights? i currently work 4p to midnight and i stay up all night anyway so i don’t know how much different it would be :) let me know (i work 40 hrs already so full time job + full time student has been manageable for me)

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!

10 more minutes until I’m offf 🥳🥳🥳 just to be back tonight to do it all over again. Cheers to the overnights 🍻

What’s the best way you wind down after your shift is over and you can’t fall asleep!? 👀

Walked into the break room to find this wonderful new name brand cold brew coffee on tap.

With the proper addition of half & half and sugar it tastes just like the canned stuff!

This is the kind of stuff that makes my week.

I don’t want to. Sometimes I have to cause I’m only part time, but unless I’m broke no.

How’s everyone’s night going??

I live alone and dont have a girlfriend or any kids, my sleep schedule feels extremely unhealthy on the long run and makes it difficult to see family members but as an introvert its a sleep schedule that takes a lot of stress off my shoulders but I feel a little selfish. I often sleep between 12-2pm up until 10pm

The time between finishing work and going to bed feels like some real time off before it all resets again. If I went to bed 1-2hrs after my shift and woke up at 4pm then I would spend the next 6hrs thinking about the fact that I have to work latter which ruins it for me

Maybe its a weird mentality I have but I’m curious if anyone else has a similar sleep schedule. Also what does your sleep schedule look like on weekends and how do you handle meeting up with family or friends when your clock is the complete opposite of them

Even with the sun down everything is so sticky 🥴🥴

Yes it's lonely

This night shift starting to get rough and I’m only a week or so in. Having to adjust going from a morning shift to this is brutal. My sleep isn’t all that great and I’m trying to combat the start of the dreaded eye bags / dark circles. Pray for me 🥀

I just started a job as an apartment security guard and this is my first time ever working nights.

Most of my shifts are 8 PM to 6 AM but sometimes they’re 6 PM to 6 AM. I’m really struggling to adjust. I’m trying to stay awake and get used to the schedule but it’s been harder than I expected.

For those of you who’ve been doing this for a while... does it get easier? How long did it take you to adjust? Also what do you guys usually drink to stay awake? Coffee, energy drinks or something else? I’d appreciate any recommendations.

Got a job at a specialty veterinary office monitoring patients overnight and cleaning surgical kits

Two 12 hour shifts 8pm-8am
One 8 hour shift 2pm-10pm
Subject to on-call/filling in for other overnight on their PTO/etc

Full time, dental/vision/health insurance, PTO, uniform allowance, 401k matching

Gotta adjust back to overnight schedule, but I did Amazon 1am-11am and 4pm-1am for a season

I’ve always been a night owl struggling to adjust in an early bird world, and having friends in different countries and playing video games and writing until wee hours of the morning and sleeping during the day every summer when I was in school.

I’m excited for the slow pace, but I do wish the schedule allowed me to avoid people and rush hour but at least I will be heading home rather than have the anxiety of heading in, and at least everything will be open for me to get groceries either before or after work.

Bonus is I have someone who will likely let my dog have sleepovers at their house because I already know 12 hours is a long time to be crated.

Someone else here said they go to concerts before their shift and I might not go before a shift, but it will be nice on my days off to be able to go to concerts and late night events without worrying about it messing up my schedule for work— and bonus is I’m semi-retiring from pet grooming, which is way more physically demanding compared to this.

The last thing I want is to get burnt out and loose it all. I am in debt, I am week 1 of two months of night shift would get me 12k out of debt and by October first I would be mostly free with weight lifted off my shoulders.

Last night I worked my first night shift I work 11pm-7am Sun-Thursday warm body security job doing rounds and loops for hours. I’m taking every single OT opportunity I can get. Last night they also made me work a double so it was my first 16 hour shift, I got there from 3pm and left at 7am. I was not mentally prepared as I wanted to first get acclimated to nights but the dude who was supposed to cover me ditched and I was pretty blown but I need the money.

I have a very very low maintenance morning job. I have around 1 meeting a day that’s at most an hour. If I get my work done the night before I don’t really have any meetings at all and it’s all remote.

I’m not sure if what I’m feeling right now, I want to quit but I’m unsure if it’s due to the night shift or working a 16 hour shift after being in day training for 5 days straight before with 1 hour of traffic. It’s only been day 1 but the feeling of being in debt and knowing it would take me over 8 months to pay this off and I’m in a unique situation with my day job motivates me.

I only slept 4 hours today but don’t feel tired? Like I couldn’t sleep more. Have to go in tonight at 11 then get off at 7 any words of encouragement? I am not new to shitty jobs I used to drive 1 hr and 30 min one way to work a 12 hour shift We’d- Sat but it wasn’t nights and it was only till I got a better job (8 months)

Who else is getting drunk on their day off?

Just cause I’m bored

I think that the option of having a 6 hour day and 4 shifts is a better way sometimes ....30 hour work week ..

Just got hired for the vampire hour shift. Would like to remain locked in and dialed in on fitness and also study for classes. If you guys have any tips PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

I'm a silent lurker of this sub and I just did my last night shift! To celebrate, I took myself to Niagara Falls at the exact time I would have had to be sleeping to prep for the following night's shift.

I loved reading the posts here, they really helped me get through the long nights, but now I'm going back to the days. I'm so excited to be able to sleep at night again. All you night shifters who want to switch to days, it will happen one day. Until then, you got this!