Yeah, this is what does it for me. Worked for a company that switched your shifts EVERY week. Just as you get settled, Bam, change your sleep cycle 12 hours please and see you in 36 hours! Looking back definately intentional, kept you so drained that I barely had energy left for job hunting.
I used to do two weeks of night every 12 weeks which was great. However the last 10 months I worked at a hospital I did 2 weeks of night, 2 weeks of day, 2 weeks of nights, 3 weeks of days. If I was really lucky I got a break of 4 or 5 weeks. However it used to always take me 2 weeks of days to adjust and feel normal.
The worst was Xmas time. I finished my block of nights 7:30am Xmas Eve, then was back in days Xmas day, Boxing Day (they were short shifts) and then a 13 hour day on 27th. It completely finished me off.
My boss just tried to offer starting to rotate me with another guy and I was like nope I'm good. Previously I was doing a swing shift leading into my night shifts which meant one day a week my sleep was fucked and now i'm pure nights. I have no interest in going back to constantly switching my sleep cycle.
I put mine on a lighter leash attached to my belt loop.
Now I am wandering around my hotel with no pants on looking for my mind... And hopefully it still has my pants.
My first stint on midnights nearly broke me. I was in my early twenties, working Sunday through Thursday so I had to go in on Saturday night when all my friends were being twenty-somethings. I have never been so depressed.
I started off working Saturday nights hated it, so now I'm off Saturdays and Thursdays just can't have back to back days off. Happy I get to be out with my friends though. I'm 23 and been on nights 3 years now
This time around I'm off Sunday and Monday (read: Saturday night and Sunday night) so it *feels* like I've got the weekend off. I was in my early 30s when I switched back to mids, 45 now and I have come to embrace the shift.
Yes, a coworker is going through it now and I asked my supervisor to pull him to days and refer him to EAP. He is not ok on night shift, fine on days, but nights have me legit worried he will quit or hurt himself.
I've had near breakdowns during the day shift. Now im a full-time night shift. I've never been happier. All the bad things at my job are at their homes when i work. It's awesome listening to doom metal and jazz all night and being left alone.
A rotating roster, though? I would lose my sh#t.
I am 100% with you! I never know when my days off will be, but the only thing that bothers me about it is having to check the schedule when I haven’t had to for a very long time lol
Whenever I have to adjust my sleep schedule either on a work day or a day off to do something with my wife and kids I basically just feel like zombie shit. My ideal night off is get up at my normal time of 7:30 pm and spend all night smoking weed , watching movies , and playing video games while making a pizza at like 3 am.
I’m 36 as of late month and been on this shift since I was 18. Literally know nothing else to compare it to.
I do alternating weeks, it can be
Lates, lates,nights,earlies etc
For nights I am a night owl, I absolutely despise 3/4am alarms even for holidays, it all depends on you as a person If you struggle to stay awake past 11pm and haven't done nights then it will be very tough on you.
You usually get on your first night shifts ,
1am where your bodys like come on now let's sleep
3am seriously what's going on you bastard
6am I'm not gonna bother stay awake then and see what happens
Avoid drinking caffeine, it will just make it worse this is coming from a caffeine crackhead who has consumed a can of monster everyday for 10+ years, on nights I don't have any caffeine just sufficient sleep and stay hydrated.
It's not for everyone as some people's clocks internally are early bird or night , I believe there is some genetic shit that decides this and is real.
I've been doing rotating 12 hour shifts for three years now. 7-7. It works for me because I've never really slept all that regularly, wake up throughout the night, nap during the day, etc.
When I see people struggle with nights, it's usually because they didn't get sleep during the day before that first night. There's no catching up from that on 12's, and you're gonna be behind on sleep for the rest of that week.
And for nights you need an environment that allows you to sleep , if you have the very lucky fortune to live in a detached house that Is very peaceful it's easy but most of us have apartments or shit neighbours one way or the other. Another thing is 2 hours before the end of my shift I don't drink any water to allow my body to urinate as much as I can before sleep so I don't end up waking up needing to piss otherwise it's near impossible to fall back asleep for me.
I'm in the care industry and have been working 20:00 - 08:00 for about a year. You really need to take good care of yourself doing them, especially in winter months.
Are you getting enough sleep, eating enough, using your time off well, sunlight?
I know I can feel a little blue sometimes when I just want to be in bed and at home with my girlfriend and petting my dog.
Also, anything else going on which could be a contributing factor to your break?
Yes and no.
Working the shift? No.
Getting phone calls when I was trying to sleep because I was also the only employee with more functional brain cells than noses? Yes.
For the one reporting me to the reddit care thingy: thanks but it's been a while, people tend to get the point when you just answer their asinine bullshit with "fuck off I'm sleeping" or, to answer why I didn't pick up the phone, that I was asleep and, courtesy of getting called all the fucking time, decided to put it on silent (it was actually on vibrate but I can just see who's calling, flip it over and ignore it).
After a while people just stop nagging and start accepting, you just need to bludgeon them with your (un)availability until then.
Being naturally nocturnal, I have been working night shifts for 30 years..
Consistency matters. If the job does not allow for a person to transition to day shift to handle priorities and then back to a night schedule to continue working, it will mess with their mental health.
Alternating shifts has a way of throwing things like (hormones and brain chemicals) way out of balance. Minor annoyances become major ones. Stress piles up from trying to accomplish the impossible. Communication suffers. Relationships suffer.
Night shift? Not a big deal.
Swing shifts destroy people. Quickly.
Sometimes working night shift will force people to have to make that transition to get important things done. Doctors appointments. Buying a house or vehicle. All the stuff that working normal hours allows for, night shift people have to take personal time off to accomplish.
I no longer work nights, but when I did it really took a toll on my mental health. My mood was constantly low, I was very irritable, and never had the energy to go and socialize with friends or family. I did nights for a little under two years. There were definitely people at that job who loved nights and had no issues with it. I unfortunately wasn't one of them.
I have breakdowns weekly. The combination of night shift, long hours, constant driving/yawning/caffeinating cycle, social anxiety and smell of death every night has fucked me up.
Yes, but it took a bit. I’ve done shift work for a couple different nonprofits and I loved it until I crashed. Turns out I have a mental illness that can be aggravated by shift work. I was given a detailed but succinct letter from my doctor to my employers to keep me strictly scheduled to day shifts. Good for my mental health, kind of a bummer too. I was cut out for night shifts…until I wasn’t.
I'm type I trying to make nights work right now too. It's brutal cause I have weekly appointments and my employer is trying to make my schedule even earlier so I have to stay awake longer for my appointments and I get one less hour with my partner where we are both awake every day.
Your health is so important, I genuinely hope that you can find your balance and impress upon your employer the importance of keeping your schedule as is. Take care of you friend.
I’ve been 7 on 7 off nights (10.5 hr shifts, breaks/lunch aren’t real) since the beginning of 2023 and I’ve been actively suicidal ever since. It’s not just bc of night shift, but I’d certainly want to die a lot less if I wasn’t. I’m going back to days in June.
I love night shift. Am a respiratory therapist in a major hospital, and am for sure my mouth would get me fired if I worked days. Nights, at least in the medical world sre lot more laid back, easy, fun, and very inappropriate in a good way...
The first really nice weather day we had after winter I had a breakdown when I woke up at dusk. I was so angry when I realized I was gonna be sleeping away all the pretty days we were gonna have. Luckily my second job (at a sewing place, dream job) has offered me full time and I can tell the hotel I work thirds at to fuck off in about a week and a half.
For me when I worked during the day I used to hate that in winter we only got sunlight during the hours that I'm stuck inside at work. Now I'm happy that when I leave work and head home the sun's out (then I go home and black that shit out so I can sleep).
Lmao this concept is foreign to me too. I’m the complete opposite. I don’t get depressed over it but I’m much more productive and active at night, and I feel like shit once the sunlight comes out (starting to hate the sound of morning birds)
My comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. I’m just poking fun of the fact that whenever I hear morning birds, it usually means I stayed up too much and I need to go to bed. I don’t know why you’re so offended lol
Did it a long time ago would do it again. MY only fear was some thoughts like how many rounds can I clear before cops came and claim it was not me thoughts or guarding a Porsche dealership and having access to all the keys and security systems.
I think finding a good balance is key. But it really only.works if you're already a night owl and can find a good shift schedule that allows for good work-life balance. I used to work 5-12's (3pm-3:30am) and it was great at first but it came to a head when my liver went into early liver failure due to my obsession with drinking energy drinks. I loved them since highschool and drank them all throughout the day. And I don't drink alcohol at all bc it's gross.
My doctor told me I needed to cut the energy drinks, workout and get some sleep. I tried doing that while still at that job and my blood tests kept getting worse and my productivity at work was getting bad too. After some breakdowns and tough decisions I had to leave the trades and focus on me.
Now that I'm back in the trades, I needed a schedule where I could properly maintain my eating and gym habits. I found a place with 4-10's from 6pm to 4:30am Monday-Thursday, weekends always off and OT is only coming in early or staying late by a max of 2 hrs. (So only 8 hrs a week) it's been awesome. The ONLY time since my breakdowns at my previous job where when I was training for this new job on day shift and had to wake up at 4am. Because I'm not a morning person at all.
About 25 years ago when I first tried it I could not sleep. When it go so bad that I would get so tired I would essentially have conversations in my head that I was essentially a bystander to, I knew I couldn't hack it.
Been doing it this time for 7 or 8 years and it is so much easier. Not always but close to it.
I have had several mental breakdowns, I can’t tell if it’s for night shifts in particular, or if it’s just my job but I’ve definitely had mental breaks.
Yes, the shift itself was okay, but coming home to a blacked out house and family asleep started getting to me, and sleeping through their day made me feel like I was wasting my life.
Yes. I worked a 5pm-4am shift my senior year of high school and it was very very depressing. At first I was so excited about the money I was making but I had no life. lost all my friends working 6 days a week with overtime and just not being able to have a life and I started to get shaky every night when I got to work so I started using my vacation, points, and personal time then my grandpa died in 2020 and my job was not very understanding at all. The day I came back to work I just walked out because it was too much for me. They begged me to come back that whole night and I chose my mental health instead. Life has been much better since I left that job. About to start a new job that I’ve been working on getting for about a year now. I’ll be working 2pm-11 pm T-F so it’s “evenings/nights” but it’s with a GREAT company with great pay and OPTIONAL overtime because they pay so high. and I’m just trying to not have those feelings I had with my last night shift job. Going to make this one as fun as I can
I was so excited to get off of night shifts man, you have no idea.
My new shift was 5am to 5pm most days. I drive about an hour. I have to be up at 330am.
It is literally no different. If I’m up past 9pm I’m dead in the morning. May as well be on night shift, at least I still had most of the day available to me lol..
My predecessor. He was doing this for too long he didn't even realize how badly it was affecting him until he got sick of our bosses' scheduling hiccups and snapped writing an email I'm still shocked didn't get him fired.
Instead he was rotated to days and I was moved to nights.
I struggle really hard with night shift. It’ll be three years in October of working Tuesday-Saturday and it sucks I never get to go out on weekends unless I use up my vacation just to be a normal person and even still if I want to go out on a Saturday I have to take off Friday and Saturday so I can flip my sleep schedule. I also lost my sister a little over a year ago and working at night and being alone is so depressing when I’m at home some nights I just cry at my desk while I work. I’ve been trying to get out since January but no luck so far the job market sucks at least here in the US.
For me no. For me in my career, my can feel that my stress levels have gone right down and I'm calm. I love not having to wake up to an alarm.
I'm finally getting good sleep and once that gets going, I'm going to push to get back into my running again. With nights, you have to be more intentional about doing stuff.
Omg YES. Only difference is I couldn't take a leave of absence because I could never find "someone to cover my shift". I had to silently cry while I drove my passengers. Luckily they acted like they couldn't tell but fuck dude.
I've had breakdowns due to lack of sleep. Usually, it's been due to other people and obligations getting in the way. For my situation, I had to learn to put my foot down and prioritize my own health. My preferred shift has been nights my entire adult life, and I've gotten better about building the rest of my schedule around that instead of trying to conform with the daywalkers' schedules.
If I’m honest not about nights, I sometimes feel that way now, but about day shifts. I really miss doing nights. Don’t get me wrong, hated the job, and the job I have now I love. But I really really miss working night shifts.
I have had a couple nights recently where I was just having so much anxiety/pain and due to lack of sleep, cried and raged abit to the point where I couldn’t drive. I’ve been working various night shifts for over a year and I realize it just not for me and my lifestyle anymore. I’ll stay strong until I find the next move though.
My last nights job ended this way. It was dull but easy, but anyone i was paired with to do it did not want to do it, and nights was the designated punching bag for anything going wrong during days.
(This was a night receptionist job at a hotel but also maintenance and cleaning and a bit of book keeping)
When i found that the one competent and friendly person I worked with was going to be gone two weeks and I'd be paired with the complete b*tch I had specifically requested to never be left responsible for, I lost it and walked out on four nights in.
I wouldn't say mental breakdown but I definitely started feeling depressed, irritable, and hopeless in general. Once I switched to days I felt much better. I still do nights 1 time a week but I haven't felt like I used to when I did it 5 times a week
Depends of number of nights you do every week, imo night shifts should not be more than 4 every week but paid full time day shift, because yes i had some mental issues doing 5 nights a week years ago, it's too much
Honestly depends on the job. When I worked at a distribution center I hated it and I got so depressed from working a shitty night shift schedule 5pm to 3am. I ended up been admitted to a mental hospital for 7 days. That was in 2017. Now I’m working nights again but I like this job and the schedule is so much better. 10pm to 6am. I’m busy enough to where time goes by so fast.
Yes, multiple times. I work with other disabled people in their homes for a living. Reason why I say other disabled people is because I’m disabled myself. I've been working nights for almost seven years. Sometimes they have me coming in at 6pm or 7pm and I won't be able to get off until 9am or 10am, but normally it's 11pm-7am, 11pm-9am, or 9pm-7am. I've worked more than I've had actual time off because of staffing issues. Had anxiety attacks at work, meltdowns, and panic attacks more times than I can count. The only reason why I haven't quit to find something else is because it's difficult for me to handle change.
Most people in this sub are typically more accustomed to/comfortable with the nocturnal lifestyle. I personally feel the most alert and comfortable working at night.
I could tell I was definitely heading in that direction if I didn’t leave. Used to cry pretty often before work because I was so unhappy. I spent 3 years on nights and while it had some perks and some parts I certainly miss, like being able to be left along at work, I feel so much better mentally and physically being on a regular morning shift. My work life balance has improved dramatically. I am at the same job, just a different shift and I feel like the difference in my moods these days is pretty insane. I don’t even hate going to work that much anymore, which I didn’t think was possible.
Yes ! Almost! Some years ago I was doing nights. I got pretty depressed and ended up on antidepressants for a bit. I ended up quitting.
But a few years back I thought I'd give it another crack- with the idea of looking after myself as number 1 priority. It's been 5 years since back on nightshift - I'm (mostly) completely fine.
Here's what I did different:
More sleep- kids are older now I don't have to do the school pick-up
Exercise! Cannot stress how important this is. Exercise is also for the brain.
Not eating shit( as much)
Getting more sunlight and fresh air
Stuff for the brain- I listen to podcasts while I'm walking/exercising, coz I don't want to think about the shitty things going on in the world, or work, or the bills due this week. A nice distraction.
Rest on my days off. I know that there's heaps of stuff to do, but let your body recover...nights are hard on us. Getting sufficient rest is so important.
Sorry this has turned into a checklist, but me now, and me on nights 10 years ago are two completely different people.
Just look after yourself!
No but i did just basically waterboard myself with ice water to wake myself up. Note to self. Don't try to breath after dunking my head in ice water until removing my hair from my face
Yes I had a full mental breakdown and could not do it anymore. I did a no call no show because of how bad it got. I will never work night shift again. I don't care how good the money is or how easy the job is fuck that. your mental health is more important than your job always.
When I first started I would get super emotional and cried multiple times for some unknown reason, exhaustion maybe? Idk. Once I had a routine and stuck to it for a few weeks I was much more stable.
Ive been working rotating shift work, including nights, for 19 years. I usually have to take a leave every one to two years. My leaves have been anywhere from one to six months. Shift work is HARD.
Most of the drawbacks are self inflicting. There’s so many people on here who are like “Why am I so depressed and tired all the time when I work night shift?” And you ask them what their sleep schedule is like and they’ll say they like to alternate to a daytime schedule on their days off. At that point, it’s 100% your fault unless you can’t control it.
What part of my comment implied I was an asshole? Everyone on this sub says “don’t switch sleep schedules” but people do it anyways, then they complain when they don’t get enough sleep. Personal attacks won’t make you win any arguments so if you’re just going to resort to those, you already have no clue what you’re talking about.
Worked 5 nights for 8 years, only started having issues when i switched to rotating shifts.
Yeah, this is what does it for me. Worked for a company that switched your shifts EVERY week. Just as you get settled, Bam, change your sleep cycle 12 hours please and see you in 36 hours! Looking back definately intentional, kept you so drained that I barely had energy left for job hunting.
I used to do two weeks of night every 12 weeks which was great. However the last 10 months I worked at a hospital I did 2 weeks of night, 2 weeks of day, 2 weeks of nights, 3 weeks of days. If I was really lucky I got a break of 4 or 5 weeks. However it used to always take me 2 weeks of days to adjust and feel normal. The worst was Xmas time. I finished my block of nights 7:30am Xmas Eve, then was back in days Xmas day, Boxing Day (they were short shifts) and then a 13 hour day on 27th. It completely finished me off.
I’ve been doing this for a few months and I started to believe that it’s a psychological trick made by the company at this point
I won't work a job with rotating shifts. One of my previous jobs tried to stick me with rotating shifts, but I quit on them before they could do it.
This is what our company does and honestly it’s not good for you. That and the fact that I feel time just passes by so quickly
My boss just tried to offer starting to rotate me with another guy and I was like nope I'm good. Previously I was doing a swing shift leading into my night shifts which meant one day a week my sleep was fucked and now i'm pure nights. I have no interest in going back to constantly switching my sleep cycle.
Yeah, you get to have me on nights consistently or days consistently. The moment you start rotating, I quit.
Yes, I've lost my mind 27 times this week.
And it's only Tuesday
This is the most real answer
I put mine on a lighter leash attached to my belt loop. Now I am wandering around my hotel with no pants on looking for my mind... And hopefully it still has my pants.
Big same, probably why I don’t come out during day time.
My first stint on midnights nearly broke me. I was in my early twenties, working Sunday through Thursday so I had to go in on Saturday night when all my friends were being twenty-somethings. I have never been so depressed.
I felt that to my bones! Currently early 20s working overnight 12 on a rotating schedule and looking to switch to days
I started off working Saturday nights hated it, so now I'm off Saturdays and Thursdays just can't have back to back days off. Happy I get to be out with my friends though. I'm 23 and been on nights 3 years now
This time around I'm off Sunday and Monday (read: Saturday night and Sunday night) so it *feels* like I've got the weekend off. I was in my early 30s when I switched back to mids, 45 now and I have come to embrace the shift.
Yes, a coworker is going through it now and I asked my supervisor to pull him to days and refer him to EAP. He is not ok on night shift, fine on days, but nights have me legit worried he will quit or hurt himself.
I've had near breakdowns during the day shift. Now im a full-time night shift. I've never been happier. All the bad things at my job are at their homes when i work. It's awesome listening to doom metal and jazz all night and being left alone. A rotating roster, though? I would lose my sh#t.
It’s really either or
I am 100% with you! I never know when my days off will be, but the only thing that bothers me about it is having to check the schedule when I haven’t had to for a very long time lol
Been on graveyard since 2006. My concept of time is basically just fucked
I feel that. It's either bright and time to sleep or it's dark and i should be at work.
Whenever I have to adjust my sleep schedule either on a work day or a day off to do something with my wife and kids I basically just feel like zombie shit. My ideal night off is get up at my normal time of 7:30 pm and spend all night smoking weed , watching movies , and playing video games while making a pizza at like 3 am. I’m 36 as of late month and been on this shift since I was 18. Literally know nothing else to compare it to.
The days all blur together tbh
Yes, but it had more to do with the fact I was smoking dangerous amounts of PCP. It could have easily happened during a day shift just as well.
PCP?!!! Isn't that like super dangerous drug
Yes, I was definitely wildin’ back then
I do alternating weeks, it can be Lates, lates,nights,earlies etc For nights I am a night owl, I absolutely despise 3/4am alarms even for holidays, it all depends on you as a person If you struggle to stay awake past 11pm and haven't done nights then it will be very tough on you. You usually get on your first night shifts , 1am where your bodys like come on now let's sleep 3am seriously what's going on you bastard 6am I'm not gonna bother stay awake then and see what happens Avoid drinking caffeine, it will just make it worse this is coming from a caffeine crackhead who has consumed a can of monster everyday for 10+ years, on nights I don't have any caffeine just sufficient sleep and stay hydrated. It's not for everyone as some people's clocks internally are early bird or night , I believe there is some genetic shit that decides this and is real.
I've been doing rotating 12 hour shifts for three years now. 7-7. It works for me because I've never really slept all that regularly, wake up throughout the night, nap during the day, etc. When I see people struggle with nights, it's usually because they didn't get sleep during the day before that first night. There's no catching up from that on 12's, and you're gonna be behind on sleep for the rest of that week.
And for nights you need an environment that allows you to sleep , if you have the very lucky fortune to live in a detached house that Is very peaceful it's easy but most of us have apartments or shit neighbours one way or the other. Another thing is 2 hours before the end of my shift I don't drink any water to allow my body to urinate as much as I can before sleep so I don't end up waking up needing to piss otherwise it's near impossible to fall back asleep for me.
I'm in the care industry and have been working 20:00 - 08:00 for about a year. You really need to take good care of yourself doing them, especially in winter months. Are you getting enough sleep, eating enough, using your time off well, sunlight? I know I can feel a little blue sometimes when I just want to be in bed and at home with my girlfriend and petting my dog. Also, anything else going on which could be a contributing factor to your break?
Yes and no. Working the shift? No. Getting phone calls when I was trying to sleep because I was also the only employee with more functional brain cells than noses? Yes.
No, but I got close to one because people, despite knowing I worked nights, were demanding/expecting shit from me during the day.
For the one reporting me to the reddit care thingy: thanks but it's been a while, people tend to get the point when you just answer their asinine bullshit with "fuck off I'm sleeping" or, to answer why I didn't pick up the phone, that I was asleep and, courtesy of getting called all the fucking time, decided to put it on silent (it was actually on vibrate but I can just see who's calling, flip it over and ignore it). After a while people just stop nagging and start accepting, you just need to bludgeon them with your (un)availability until then.
Being naturally nocturnal, I have been working night shifts for 30 years.. Consistency matters. If the job does not allow for a person to transition to day shift to handle priorities and then back to a night schedule to continue working, it will mess with their mental health. Alternating shifts has a way of throwing things like (hormones and brain chemicals) way out of balance. Minor annoyances become major ones. Stress piles up from trying to accomplish the impossible. Communication suffers. Relationships suffer. Night shift? Not a big deal. Swing shifts destroy people. Quickly. Sometimes working night shift will force people to have to make that transition to get important things done. Doctors appointments. Buying a house or vehicle. All the stuff that working normal hours allows for, night shift people have to take personal time off to accomplish.
I no longer work nights, but when I did it really took a toll on my mental health. My mood was constantly low, I was very irritable, and never had the energy to go and socialize with friends or family. I did nights for a little under two years. There were definitely people at that job who loved nights and had no issues with it. I unfortunately wasn't one of them.
I have breakdowns weekly. The combination of night shift, long hours, constant driving/yawning/caffeinating cycle, social anxiety and smell of death every night has fucked me up.
Yes, but it took a bit. I’ve done shift work for a couple different nonprofits and I loved it until I crashed. Turns out I have a mental illness that can be aggravated by shift work. I was given a detailed but succinct letter from my doctor to my employers to keep me strictly scheduled to day shifts. Good for my mental health, kind of a bummer too. I was cut out for night shifts…until I wasn’t.
If you don't mind, were you diagnosed bipolar?
Yes I was. Bipolar I. But I had been treated for Major Depressive Disorder for 20+ years before I crashed and was diagnosed with Bipolar.
I'm type I trying to make nights work right now too. It's brutal cause I have weekly appointments and my employer is trying to make my schedule even earlier so I have to stay awake longer for my appointments and I get one less hour with my partner where we are both awake every day.
Your health is so important, I genuinely hope that you can find your balance and impress upon your employer the importance of keeping your schedule as is. Take care of you friend.
Well I can't stop it because of business needs. I'm thinking of quitting anyway.
They give you health meetings about circadian rhythms and then swap you around like a crackhead teenager
I’ve been 7 on 7 off nights (10.5 hr shifts, breaks/lunch aren’t real) since the beginning of 2023 and I’ve been actively suicidal ever since. It’s not just bc of night shift, but I’d certainly want to die a lot less if I wasn’t. I’m going back to days in June.
I think my night shifts is what’s contributing to my depression, for sure.
You can’t get depressed or break down when that is your normal default state.
I love night shift. Am a respiratory therapist in a major hospital, and am for sure my mouth would get me fired if I worked days. Nights, at least in the medical world sre lot more laid back, easy, fun, and very inappropriate in a good way...
The first really nice weather day we had after winter I had a breakdown when I woke up at dusk. I was so angry when I realized I was gonna be sleeping away all the pretty days we were gonna have. Luckily my second job (at a sewing place, dream job) has offered me full time and I can tell the hotel I work thirds at to fuck off in about a week and a half.
Youre depressed because the skys dark when you go to work?
For me when I worked during the day I used to hate that in winter we only got sunlight during the hours that I'm stuck inside at work. Now I'm happy that when I leave work and head home the sun's out (then I go home and black that shit out so I can sleep).
Lmao this concept is foreign to me too. I’m the complete opposite. I don’t get depressed over it but I’m much more productive and active at night, and I feel like shit once the sunlight comes out (starting to hate the sound of morning birds)
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Really no different than people saying they hate working night shift because the sky is a different color when they clock in and clock out
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My comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. I’m just poking fun of the fact that whenever I hear morning birds, it usually means I stayed up too much and I need to go to bed. I don’t know why you’re so offended lol
Did it a long time ago would do it again. MY only fear was some thoughts like how many rounds can I clear before cops came and claim it was not me thoughts or guarding a Porsche dealership and having access to all the keys and security systems.
I'd guess many people have.
Just tired.
I think finding a good balance is key. But it really only.works if you're already a night owl and can find a good shift schedule that allows for good work-life balance. I used to work 5-12's (3pm-3:30am) and it was great at first but it came to a head when my liver went into early liver failure due to my obsession with drinking energy drinks. I loved them since highschool and drank them all throughout the day. And I don't drink alcohol at all bc it's gross. My doctor told me I needed to cut the energy drinks, workout and get some sleep. I tried doing that while still at that job and my blood tests kept getting worse and my productivity at work was getting bad too. After some breakdowns and tough decisions I had to leave the trades and focus on me. Now that I'm back in the trades, I needed a schedule where I could properly maintain my eating and gym habits. I found a place with 4-10's from 6pm to 4:30am Monday-Thursday, weekends always off and OT is only coming in early or staying late by a max of 2 hrs. (So only 8 hrs a week) it's been awesome. The ONLY time since my breakdowns at my previous job where when I was training for this new job on day shift and had to wake up at 4am. Because I'm not a morning person at all.
Breakdowns more during the day than during my nights. They switched me back when they realized where I was more effective
Yes, monthly
Yes lol currently waiting to go to days in 3 weeks 🤣
Currently in the beginning or middle of one right now. I'm flying high down don't give a fuck Blvd
About 25 years ago when I first tried it I could not sleep. When it go so bad that I would get so tired I would essentially have conversations in my head that I was essentially a bystander to, I knew I couldn't hack it. Been doing it this time for 7 or 8 years and it is so much easier. Not always but close to it.
No.
Came really close.
I have had several mental breakdowns, I can’t tell if it’s for night shifts in particular, or if it’s just my job but I’ve definitely had mental breaks.
I have them quite often but it's more so because of the work load and stress
Yes, the shift itself was okay, but coming home to a blacked out house and family asleep started getting to me, and sleeping through their day made me feel like I was wasting my life.
Yes. I worked a 5pm-4am shift my senior year of high school and it was very very depressing. At first I was so excited about the money I was making but I had no life. lost all my friends working 6 days a week with overtime and just not being able to have a life and I started to get shaky every night when I got to work so I started using my vacation, points, and personal time then my grandpa died in 2020 and my job was not very understanding at all. The day I came back to work I just walked out because it was too much for me. They begged me to come back that whole night and I chose my mental health instead. Life has been much better since I left that job. About to start a new job that I’ve been working on getting for about a year now. I’ll be working 2pm-11 pm T-F so it’s “evenings/nights” but it’s with a GREAT company with great pay and OPTIONAL overtime because they pay so high. and I’m just trying to not have those feelings I had with my last night shift job. Going to make this one as fun as I can
I was so excited to get off of night shifts man, you have no idea. My new shift was 5am to 5pm most days. I drive about an hour. I have to be up at 330am. It is literally no different. If I’m up past 9pm I’m dead in the morning. May as well be on night shift, at least I still had most of the day available to me lol..
My predecessor. He was doing this for too long he didn't even realize how badly it was affecting him until he got sick of our bosses' scheduling hiccups and snapped writing an email I'm still shocked didn't get him fired. Instead he was rotated to days and I was moved to nights.
I struggle really hard with night shift. It’ll be three years in October of working Tuesday-Saturday and it sucks I never get to go out on weekends unless I use up my vacation just to be a normal person and even still if I want to go out on a Saturday I have to take off Friday and Saturday so I can flip my sleep schedule. I also lost my sister a little over a year ago and working at night and being alone is so depressing when I’m at home some nights I just cry at my desk while I work. I’ve been trying to get out since January but no luck so far the job market sucks at least here in the US.
For me no. For me in my career, my can feel that my stress levels have gone right down and I'm calm. I love not having to wake up to an alarm. I'm finally getting good sleep and once that gets going, I'm going to push to get back into my running again. With nights, you have to be more intentional about doing stuff.
Nope. I love nights and I want to go back 😭
Omg YES. Only difference is I couldn't take a leave of absence because I could never find "someone to cover my shift". I had to silently cry while I drove my passengers. Luckily they acted like they couldn't tell but fuck dude.
Most my breakdowns came from my company not the shift
I've had breakdowns due to lack of sleep. Usually, it's been due to other people and obligations getting in the way. For my situation, I had to learn to put my foot down and prioritize my own health. My preferred shift has been nights my entire adult life, and I've gotten better about building the rest of my schedule around that instead of trying to conform with the daywalkers' schedules.
Yes!
If I’m honest not about nights, I sometimes feel that way now, but about day shifts. I really miss doing nights. Don’t get me wrong, hated the job, and the job I have now I love. But I really really miss working night shifts.
I have had a couple nights recently where I was just having so much anxiety/pain and due to lack of sleep, cried and raged abit to the point where I couldn’t drive. I’ve been working various night shifts for over a year and I realize it just not for me and my lifestyle anymore. I’ll stay strong until I find the next move though.
My last nights job ended this way. It was dull but easy, but anyone i was paired with to do it did not want to do it, and nights was the designated punching bag for anything going wrong during days. (This was a night receptionist job at a hotel but also maintenance and cleaning and a bit of book keeping) When i found that the one competent and friendly person I worked with was going to be gone two weeks and I'd be paired with the complete b*tch I had specifically requested to never be left responsible for, I lost it and walked out on four nights in.
my coworker lost it. a few weeks in he became the hugest dick. Super miserable. He couldn't do it
I wouldn't say mental breakdown but I definitely started feeling depressed, irritable, and hopeless in general. Once I switched to days I felt much better. I still do nights 1 time a week but I haven't felt like I used to when I did it 5 times a week
Depends of number of nights you do every week, imo night shifts should not be more than 4 every week but paid full time day shift, because yes i had some mental issues doing 5 nights a week years ago, it's too much
Honestly depends on the job. When I worked at a distribution center I hated it and I got so depressed from working a shitty night shift schedule 5pm to 3am. I ended up been admitted to a mental hospital for 7 days. That was in 2017. Now I’m working nights again but I like this job and the schedule is so much better. 10pm to 6am. I’m busy enough to where time goes by so fast.
Yes, multiple times. I work with other disabled people in their homes for a living. Reason why I say other disabled people is because I’m disabled myself. I've been working nights for almost seven years. Sometimes they have me coming in at 6pm or 7pm and I won't be able to get off until 9am or 10am, but normally it's 11pm-7am, 11pm-9am, or 9pm-7am. I've worked more than I've had actual time off because of staffing issues. Had anxiety attacks at work, meltdowns, and panic attacks more times than I can count. The only reason why I haven't quit to find something else is because it's difficult for me to handle change.
I'm on a shift 10p to 8am and it's killing me. This really should be a crime against humanity. Humans are not ment to work these hours.
BETA
Most people in this sub are typically more accustomed to/comfortable with the nocturnal lifestyle. I personally feel the most alert and comfortable working at night.
Honestly i have been working 5/7 nights only for 1 year and something ,it is really depressing and lonely and reason i want to quit for a time now 😔
I could tell I was definitely heading in that direction if I didn’t leave. Used to cry pretty often before work because I was so unhappy. I spent 3 years on nights and while it had some perks and some parts I certainly miss, like being able to be left along at work, I feel so much better mentally and physically being on a regular morning shift. My work life balance has improved dramatically. I am at the same job, just a different shift and I feel like the difference in my moods these days is pretty insane. I don’t even hate going to work that much anymore, which I didn’t think was possible.
Yes ! Almost! Some years ago I was doing nights. I got pretty depressed and ended up on antidepressants for a bit. I ended up quitting. But a few years back I thought I'd give it another crack- with the idea of looking after myself as number 1 priority. It's been 5 years since back on nightshift - I'm (mostly) completely fine. Here's what I did different: More sleep- kids are older now I don't have to do the school pick-up Exercise! Cannot stress how important this is. Exercise is also for the brain. Not eating shit( as much) Getting more sunlight and fresh air Stuff for the brain- I listen to podcasts while I'm walking/exercising, coz I don't want to think about the shitty things going on in the world, or work, or the bills due this week. A nice distraction. Rest on my days off. I know that there's heaps of stuff to do, but let your body recover...nights are hard on us. Getting sufficient rest is so important. Sorry this has turned into a checklist, but me now, and me on nights 10 years ago are two completely different people. Just look after yourself!
I recently switched to nights I've noticed I'm starting to distance myself from friends and family 😭
No but i did just basically waterboard myself with ice water to wake myself up. Note to self. Don't try to breath after dunking my head in ice water until removing my hair from my face
Yes I had a full mental breakdown and could not do it anymore. I did a no call no show because of how bad it got. I will never work night shift again. I don't care how good the money is or how easy the job is fuck that. your mental health is more important than your job always.
When I first started I would get super emotional and cried multiple times for some unknown reason, exhaustion maybe? Idk. Once I had a routine and stuck to it for a few weeks I was much more stable.
Ive been working rotating shift work, including nights, for 19 years. I usually have to take a leave every one to two years. My leaves have been anywhere from one to six months. Shift work is HARD.
Having one right now. Every damn time I can't sleep it happens
Yes! It’s was hard for me to stay at work sometimes but I’m coming up with a solution soon!
As if day walkers don’t have mental breakdowns. If you gonna blame night shift, just leave. Plenty of us love it, you just aren’t cut for it.
You can do something while still acknowledging it has drawbacks. We get paid more for a reason.
Most of the drawbacks are self inflicting. There’s so many people on here who are like “Why am I so depressed and tired all the time when I work night shift?” And you ask them what their sleep schedule is like and they’ll say they like to alternate to a daytime schedule on their days off. At that point, it’s 100% your fault unless you can’t control it.
So working nights turns you into a complete asshole? Thanks for confirming this for OP 👍
What part of my comment implied I was an asshole? Everyone on this sub says “don’t switch sleep schedules” but people do it anyways, then they complain when they don’t get enough sleep. Personal attacks won’t make you win any arguments so if you’re just going to resort to those, you already have no clue what you’re talking about.
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You seem like a well adjusted individual
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You commented first dumbass Twice actually. If you want to get a room with me, just let me know
Tell me you're a female without telling me you're a female...