If you/someone you knows works night shifts...

[BretonStripe]

What hours do you/they sleep in the day? Just wondering because someone I know works 10pm - 6am six days a week (at the moment) then is pretty much in bed 7am - 8pm? I don't think it's right, can't be good for their mental health etc so wondered what others thought...

Well as with anything, there's no one size fits all is there?!

If they don't have childcare/pet responsibilities or whatever it's probably theor choice. Doesn't leave a lot of time for chores or errands etc though.

DP's dad works nights. Gets in at 9am. Asleep 10-2. Gets up and goes back to bed 7-10. Out the door again by 11.

Person is 19 with no kids or pets/still lives at home.

It's more likely that their sleep is being disturbed at some point and they're not sleeping thirteen hours every day. I used to go to bed before 8am and get up properly around 6pm, but would only be asleep for 8 hours with.

(But really, it's none of your business how much others sleep. If you don't work nights you won't get it.)

I work 10pm-7am and sleep as soon as I get in until about 1 or 2pm.

A late teenager who lives with parents spending 13 hours a day in bed, possibly not all of it asleep? Not unusual. A late teenager needing 13 hours real sleep a night (or day), or hiding in their room to escape the world - maybe a bit of a concern.

If I'm on nights I leave the house at 17.30 to start work at 1900. I leave work 0730 and get home around 8.30 or 0900 depending on traffic. Then it's bed until 1630. If you are up all night you sleep in the day, you can't not! And it isn't as good quality sleep as at night, you tend to get up more for the loo because of course you are not producing the hormones you do at night to slow production, it is harder too sleep, there is more noise and it is just completely unnatural for humans. It leaves me exhausted and if I didn't have kids I'd happily sleep more! As it is there are times I don't get to go to sleep after I finish nights and have to stay up round the clock.

I get home about 0630 and go to bed about 0900. I get up about 1900 & leave for work at 2130. As pp say you don't get the same quality sleep as you do at night

8pm til 7am shift. Sleep 7.30 - 3pm.

I started shifts when I was 22 at that age I used to go to bed at 7am and often not wake up until 5pm but I would often wake during the day and go back to sleep as I got older I slept less and less and would often be awake by about 1 / 2pm. Thankfully I don't do nights any more and a lie in for me is about 9am.

Are they actually sleeping? Or do they relax in bed/snooze on and off/watch movies in bed etc.

My boyfriend works nights, he's 19

He works 12am-8am 5 days a week and then
8pm-8am at weekends!! And they only has 2 weekends off a month!

He sleeps from 9am-6pm everyday! We also have 2 dogs and a kitten and living in our own home and just 18 and 19 so it's quite stressful but honestly he needs the sleep so I leave him to it...

He says it's not nice because he doesn't feel like he lives a normal life but for now it's our best financial option!

My boyfriend has gone to the drs and got sleeping tablet which help him get to sleep quicker so that he can get up sooner to enjoy some daylight! Maybe tell him to do that?

My daughter and her boyfriend rotate to nights. They do 8pm-8am and sometimes 9am. They usually go in half hour early to prepare.
They try to ensure they see each other before the other goes to sleep but don’t usually because of shifts. They sleep 9:30 to 6:30 ish, get up for supper and go to work. It does affect their health and judgment because of course, they don’t sleep well during the day. Some nights they get no breaks at all and no meal.

When I was a young ‘un on nights I used to leave at 6.30pm, then get home at 9.30am. I’d sleep 10.30am to 4.30pm typically. By the last night (of 7) I’d ‘lie in’ until 6pm then sleep again from midnight through to the next morning. It was tiring. Nothing was nicer than getting in that bed in the morning but sleep was disturbed by light and noise. It’s unnatural and some people adapt better than others.

I do night shifts and sleep horrendously. Get home 8:30am-ish and force myself to stay awake until 10am, just so I have a hope in hell's chance of sleeping in close enough to the following shift. I usually wake up every single hour, and have to really force myself to sleep between 2-4. I usually give up at 3/4pm after 4 hours or so of very broken sleep. It's not wonderful

I work nights every 6 weeks for 1 week. I have to have my 8 hours. Night shift is 9pm-8am.

I get in around 9am and wake around 5pm-ish (has been as late at 7pm though). But the sleep is not like a night sleep- I will often wake in the day (normally ravenous or needing the loo). No matter how much sleep you get, there is a serious slump around 3-5am, and then you're knackered when you get home though! My body hates nights

Try to wind down for 1/2 hour after getting home - dark room, switch phone off etc all the usual. Ear plugs too if you can get on with them. Not much to add but permanent night shifts are better than rotating ones. (30 yrs experience) and people always make noise in the day - it’s just the way it is.

So the day before a night shift, I stay up as late as I can manage. Up early in the day. I then go back to bed at about midday, the same day as the night shift.

I get up at 4:30-5pm and have some breakfast, ready to start working at 7:30pm. I work until 8am, come home and am usually asleep by 9:30am. If I'm on another night, I stay sleeping until 4:30-5pm again.

I do 1 week in 4 on nights, 21:30-06:30
Get home around 06:40 and try to get into bed before the kids wake but usually fail miserably.
Sleep around 07:30, up around 10:00.
It fucking sucks.

When I do nights usually only 2/3 in a row it's 2000-0800. I get home around 9am, go to bed around 10am sleep till about 2.30pm.if I'm lucky and then back to work for 8pm...I don't sleep very well

I used to work 7.30pm - 7.30am
Get in about 7.45am, breakfast, brew and watch the soaps. Bed about 9am and up at 5pm to eat and get ready for the next shift

I do night shifts 8:30pm-7:30am, but luckily not more than one in a row so I have time to recover. I sleep from about 9am-2pm, and try to get up for the kids, but honestly, if they weren't there I'd stay in bed because I'm still really tired.

I did pt nights for 20+ years originally 2/3 and then 1/2 , the hours were 7.30 - 7.30 , I used to be in bed by 9:30 and up by 2:30 and never napped around those times .

I think it's normal. Mam is a carer and works nights in a care home, 7.30 til 7.3p, physical work though all nights shifts are tiring. She comes home at 8am, has breakfast and then sleeps from 8.30am until around 5/6pm (waking up in the middle sometimes for lunch)u

I used to work awful hours and was permanently knackered. 15hr shifts minimum (children's home) and often I'd 'sleep In' too, where I inevitablely got very little sleep. I'd be in work from 8 am to 8am perhaps with 4 hours sleep in that time, would go Home and sleep until at least 5 or.6pm

Working shifts is hard. It's only now I'm in a job with reasonable hours that I realise how mental my old shifts were and how sleep deprived I was!

I don’t work shifts now but I used to do a pattern with 7 nights and a quick change over every 5 weeks. I can promise you those nights completely kicked my arse. I worked 22.00 - 06.00 in bed before 09.00 after an hours commute. The first night I would only sleep until 12.00 but after each shift would gradually sleep later until I eventually slept til 17.00. Switching back to days after that is also tough and I completely understand how the shift work can mess with your health.

Husband works 10pm while 6am.

He getd a bath and has some food before going to bed.

He usually gets to bed for about 10AM sleeps until 5PM.