I'm in my 30s, working night shift, and I'm starting to feel it hit different than it did in my 20s.

In my 20s I could pull a 12 hour night, sleep 4 hours. Now? One bad sleep and I'm useless for 2 days. Energy is lower, recovery is slower, and the social isolation is real.

Family / friends are all on day shift life. Relationships, health, diet, mental health everything feels harder to manage on nights now.

For those of you in your 30s doing nights long term:

• How are you managing sleep? Blackout curtains? Actual routine?
• How's your health? Weight, gym, diet what actually works on nights?
• Social life / relationship / kids how do you not drift apart from everyone?
• Do you plan to get off nights or have you made peace with it?
• What’s one thing you wish you did differently when you started?

Honestly just looking to hear how other guys in their 30s are navigating this, because right now I feel like I'm just surviving the shift, not living a life.

Would appreciate any real advice, not the usual "just sleep 8 hours lol" stuff.

where are my NY nightshifters out. upstate here

Glad to hear I’ll be paid for the extra hour! Woo hoo! lol

I am too friendly and too helpful. I have other people constantly talking to me when I just want to do my job and go home.

I'm contractually obligated to be around these people. They all have friendships with each other that I'm not included in, but they constantly talk to me while I'm at work. I just want them to shut up and leave me alone, but there are also times where I need their help. I need to learn how to be the curmudgeon without giving them a reason not to help me. Any ideas?

So i work in mental health, lone work, never used to mind it too much but lately... It's not even the fact that it's nights and I'm by myself a lot.

We're getting a lot of shit we are not equipped to deal with. Then if it goes south we're the ones to blame.

We deal with people who are at rock bottom, but if they don't communicate it's our fault. I say this with respect but you can't make people talk.

Then if one of them has a crash out the other staff freak the fuck out.

The staff themselves (not all) are toxic as all hell and just make things worse.

I'm tired lol, fed up and probably need a lil crash out myself but Jesus Christ.

It just seems to be getting worse and more intense.

Anyone else had this?

I know this isn't an uncommon sentiment. Looooooooong story short, I'm in the middle of a custody situation and going to court with my kid's dad. I've always been the primary custodian and I still am but now that the school year has started we are trying to figure out a new schedule.

We're in mediation and the judge kept asking me to give up parenting time bc my ex was being stubborn and saying "well you're available during the day so..." And using that as a reason why I should make all these concessions to accomdate my kid's father. I lost count of the number of times I had to explain "that's not recreational time for me that's when I sleep" like as if I work my 8-10 hours and the next 16-18 hours is just open ended free time? I'm a super hero who doesn't ever need to sleep?? I wish.

I took my job working third shift so I could be home when my kid gets off the bus and so I can take him to do extra curriculars and not have to pay for after school care. It doesn't mean I just have 10 hours more free time per day than everyone else. After he kept repeating it I just stopped correcting him bc he obviously wasn't getting it.

One of my coworkers say she sleeps about 3 - 4 hours every night and I actually believe it's true when it comes to her. She's 68, has been working in the same retirement home since she was 17, first in the day and in the last 20 years or so nights. She can retire at any time she chooses, and she already has enough money without pension to probably be set for life.

She goes to bed around 8 and wakes up 11 or 12, then she does things during the day like go to birthday parties, shopping, meeting friends and seeing her grandchildren etc. Then she goes to work again and works the entire night, and I've never seen her sleep at work and she does not seem very tired either. She works full time which is about 15 - 16 nights a month 22 - 07.

For me, I've been working nights for about 10 years and I always have brain fog and I'm constantly tired even on my days off. I work about 12 nights a month, take sleeping medication every time I get off work or else I only sleep 4 hours even though I'm still tired. With the sleeping medication I often sleep until 19 - 20 in the evening. Off days are about recovering, since I have a bad schedule where I'm usually only off 2 - 3 days at a time. Brain fog eases after maybe 5 days off for me with day-rhythm, which I never get.

The work in itself is not easy with many things to take care of and a lot of walking over a big house. It's pretty draining mentally and physically, and I know a lot of people feel that way about this particular elderly home.

So how does she do it? Does she have enormous will power? Great genetics? Drugs? Great attitude towards work that keeps her awake? Strong sense of duty? Nocturnal?

Hope your night is swift and your stimulant strong

I've been on graveyard shift (fri - mon 5:00pm - 5:30am) for one year, ever since I got my CNC machining job for aerospace stuff. It was pretty nice. My routine was to bust out parts Friday to Sunday, and into Monday I would prepare the entire CNC area for the weekdays crew including basic machine maintenance and coolant.

It felt fine, until a couple of months ago. I started experiencing paranoia, heightened anxiety, hallucinations, reduced coordination, ect during my shifts. My sleep wasn't that awful, typically 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours per night.

I decided that for many other reasons as well, I'd request to be moved over to weekend dayshift. I've been on it for 4 weeks. I feel better, I missed the sun! I'm doing other activities outside of work and able to run normal errands. I've always stuck with my work schedule so I don't have to screw up my circadian rhythm every week, so this change was a great improvement. And I prefer the dayshift crew, I'm more productive too without even trying. But it really sucks that I can no longer do the favors for the weekdays crew! The increased amount of work gives me less time for machine maintenance and organization.

Does this make me a traitor?

Hi

I (22F) will be working night shifts soon

I'm currently overweight and I wanna fix that as well

I usually sleep by 3am (thanks to all the instagram reel scrolling) but yeah I wanna change my lifestyle and make it healthy (i already have a desk job) so I was thinking of this schedule I just want to know if there's a that I can change/ stop doing

So 6pm-3am is my shift I'll reach by 4am

4-6am I'll study/upskill myself

6-7 workout

7-8 swimming

8-8:30 : breakfast

8:30am-3:30 pm: sleep (7hrs)

3:30-5: lunch + get ready for office

On weekends also I was thinking of following the same schedule (except for maybe Sundays idk when to sleep as I'll have to go to church in the morning at 9 )

So is this schedule good to go?

I've heard people saying that after night shift you have to sleep immediately something like that or else its not good for your body (night shift is already bad😭🙏)

Any suggestions are welcome

Thankyou!

Day shifters: “We get one extra hour of sleep!”
Night shifters: “We get one extra hour of work.” 🫠

Feeling good lately and planning to start going to the gym. Maybe someone could share their gym and healthy diet routine?

Thanks!❤️

What’s your guys biggest struggles/issues with working nights. Mine is feeling like I have serious brain fog after a good 5 night set. My days off I feel like I spend trying to recover.

I DON'T WANNA GO TO WORK 😭😭😭💔

IT'S 10:28 PM AND I HAVE TO LEAVE IN HALF AN HOUR. FAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GO TO WORK AT MIDNIGHT WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS GETTING READY FOR BED?????

IT'S RAINING OUTSIDE. MY BED IS WARM AND COMFY. THE FAN IS HUMMING SOFTLY. I'M WRAPPED IN MY WARM BLANKET, MY CAT IS CUDDLED UP IN MY ARMS, AND THE AIR SMELLS LIKE PETRICHOR.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW PERFECT THIS SITUATION IS FOR SLEEPING??????

THE RAIN. THE FAN. THE BLANKET. THE CAT. THE SMELL OF WET SOIL AFTER RAIN.

AND I'M SUPPOSED TO LEAVE ALL OF THAT BEHIND TO GO STAND IN A FACTORY UNTIL MORNING??????

WHY ARE OTHER PEOPLE ALLOWED TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY WHILE I'M GETTING READY TO CLOCK IN AT MIDNIGHT?????

I JUST WANNA BE A HOUSE CAT. I DON'T WANNA PARTICIPATE IN THE ECONOMY ANYMORE. I WANT TO BE PAID IN TREATS AND NAPS.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 💔💔💔😭😭😭

I’m 20 years old and as long as I can remember I’ve never been able to get much sleep. Working days was a nightmare and often would take days off just to catch up on sleep I had missed from not being able to get to bed till about 5am.

Anyways, since April I’ve been working nights and it’s been so much better for myself, no days off, getting good sleep and plenty of time in the day to do stuff. However some days I feel like absolute crap. My good friend at work says he takes vitamins as we lack sunlight this time of year (here in England it’s dark when I arrive, even by 5pm, and dark when I get home). I just wanted to know how you guys handle it?

Usually I feel fine but on these days I don’t wake up till 5pm and it really annoys me seeing no sunlight and only having 5 hours to myself. I like to sleep at 6-7am and wake up 1-2pm and usually have no issues.

I’m on shift 1 of 3 (in a row), and when I came into work I was kinda dreading the mental and physical toll this week will have on me. However, I worked up the courage to speak to my work crush, and I tried to keep the conversation short and sweet so he wouldn’t fall behind on his assignment, but he stopped and spoke to me for like 20 minutes, said it was nice to see me and everything. Talking to him turned an okay shift to a great shift and suddenly I’m not dreading the next two days🙂Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Closed tabs due to privacy issues.

Hello to my fellow nightshifters! I am desperate for some advice. I recently started a job as a nightshift nurse (7p-7:30a; home by 8am). I have no issue staying awake during my shifts or sleeping between shifts. HOWEVER, sleeping on my days off has me questioning my sanity. I cannot for the life of me find a balance to somewhat have a normal life on my days off. I have tried sleeping from 8:30a and waking up around 2p after my last shift to try and go to bed at a reasonable time. I am tired to the point I’m fighting sleep at 9pm and feel delirious lol. I can make myself stay up until 11:30 to midnight but I cannot sleep throughout the night. I will wake up after about 5 hours and cannot fall back asleep despite being exhausted. Last week I was having the issue of being unable to fall asleep until 5:30-6 am and was just so exhausted. I know I probably should just keep my schedule but how do I fall asleep at 5:30 am and wake up early enough to enjoy my day without feeling absolutely wiped out??? I have blackout curtains, I take melatonin, my rooms cold. I have tried everything that makes sense to be able to adjust my schedule slightly to be able to enjoy my days off. Despite that, I feel like I’m just chasing my tail and I don’t feel like I’m recovering at all. I don’t know how I could have a social life with this sleep schedule due to how tired I am and how little I’m sleeping let alone have enough energy to just enjoy my days off. It just does not make sense to me to sleep until 5pm on my days off especially with winter coming up and it being dark my entire wake period (5pm-8am).

What did you guys do to compromise between a nightshift work schedule and your days off while maintaining some sort of recovery?

As the title says, I will be working on a 9pm-6am shift next week. This will be my first job also. I need your tips or advice on how should I prepare for this type of shift since I’m also a morning person and I’m not used to being up all night lol.

Also, I do love running and cycling as my exercise/hobby. How can I incorporate those into my upcoming work schedule?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!