Is working nights really bad

[Foxes157]

I have an opportunity to work night shifts, it'll be a bit more money and a shorter working week.

Currently I have a short commute and although I start early, I'm home for when the kids get home.

I think of all the things I could do with the extra time. Is it worth considering?

There's a good reason night shifts attract a higher rate of pay. They play havoc with your health and wellbeing.

I've worked nights for years. Yes, you seem to have more time off but it often feels like living with permanent jet lag. The older I get, the longer the night shift hangover lasts.

It also depends on whether or not you can sleep in the day - good, solid sleep.

It depends very much on your ability to sleep during the day.

I worked nights for years when DC were young. It saved me loads on childcare but I went without sleep a lot of the time!

I now have teens, I'm 52 and no way could I do it now.

Unless you're a natural night owl I think it's going to affect you negatively, yeah.

I love my night shift weeks. I'm lucky in that I sleep really well during the day. I far prefer nights to the days when I start at 0630

It's not for everyone.
I worked night for two years and ended up covering a lot of overtime. Whilst the pay way great, it took a long time for me to recover physically and mentally.
If you can find the right balance it may work out for you. I wouldnt recommend doing it long term though

DH works shifts (days &nights/365 day rota) and it's shit. I seriously think shift work, particularly nights, have contributed to the rough patches we've had in our marriage over the past couple of years 😕

I should say I'm a night owl, and getting up early is really difficult for me and makes me exhausted for my whole shift.

On a night off I can stay up to the early hours and not get up til mid morning.

But I'm just worried about the 3/4am slot and the job may not be the most stimulating.

I've been doing nights since I returned from maternity leave in March. It has got easier. I need a couple of hours sleep after to not feel shit. I've also tweaked my rota to suit me so only do 2 shifts together on a weekend when dh is off. I do 2 12.5 hr shifts one week and 2 the following.

It wasn’t so much working nights (care job), as having to swap from days to nights and back in short space of time.

People who work night shifts for a significant period time have poorer health and shorter life expectancy.

I did it in my 20s am thought nothing of it, nearly 40 now and wouldn’t like to do it for a sustained 3/4 year period again

I spent 7 years working nights. I don't do them anymore and never will again. It's extremely tough on your health, both mental and physical. Sleeping a full day will never give you the rest that the same amount of hours at night does, at least in my opinion. Your working weeks may be shorter but you have to compensate the days that bookend your shifts as they will be somewhat used up by sleeping off your last shift or getting ready to try stay up late or all night in preparation for the next shift. Healthy diet goes out the window, you're forcing your body and mind to work back to front. I'd say do it only if it's short term and you can really get into the swing of nights, not everyone can. If it's long term then don't do it, it's so disruptive to life and not worth the extra money imo. I wish I never did nights tbh, missed out on a lot in life and at work

Oh and I described myself as a night owl before I switched to nights. The night shifts hit me like a train. Chilling at home or staying up late isn't the same as working a night shift, it really isn't. And then when I stopped working nights I had an appalling sleep pattern for over a month and it really messed with me and now 6 months later I still need to force myself to have a normal sleep pattern. Just my experience. I'll shut up now

It depends on the job. A lot of night shifts you can sleep on your break so long as you're covered by someone else who you then cover.

If it suits your life right now then give it a go and if you don't get on with nights then just stop and go back to days.

I worked nights for about 30 years,absolutely loved it,suited my body clock.

Honestly please go on, I need to hear it how it is.

At the moment it seems like compressed hours aren't as good as my 5 days a week.

I should say my current hours are approx 7 til 3. The new job will be approx 3 days a week.

I worked nights shifts for about a year. I would be similar to you I hate getting up early in the mornings and like to stay up late at night. I really enjoyed working during the night as it was a quieter atmosphere and as I love my sleep I slept well during the day. The only thing that made me get off nights was how unsociable they are. You have no life outside work when your on them your whole focus is getting enough sleep and surviving until your days off. Also in the summer months it can be really hard getting to sleep during the day when it’s bright and noisy outside with people out with lawnmowers and children playing etc. Fine every couple of weeks not full time though!

I worked nights for 7 years and I managed ok for a while but for the last year or so I was permanently exhausted and grumpy as fuck. I work 9-5 now and the dcs go to a childminder after school but we get to do a lot more together because I have so much more energy

Depends on your kids ages. If they're little it's a nightmare, if there a bit more independent and older then it's not quite so hellish.

@Foxes157

Really tough one. It depends on the person. All you can do is try it, but I think it's a well documented fact that it can be rather detrimental to peoples health sometimes.

My cousin's DH has been working in factories doing nights for 25 years since the age of 33, (and he is now 58.)

He did 5 nights on/2 nights off, for the first 13 years, (til he was 46) and for the last 12 he has been doing 4 on-4 off.

So he dropped from 40 hours a week to 28 a week.

It does affect their social life a bit ... There have been a few occasions where my cousin has wanted to go to a particular concert or show that is only on a certain date, and she can't go as it doesn't finish til 10pm, and he goes out to work at 9.15pm.

She cannot go alone as they only have one car, and he needs it for work (his work is 30-40 minutes drive away.)

They also cannot join any group or class together, as he won't go out when he has got work that night. (And many of them would not finish in time.)

But it has been handy as they never had to pay for childcare as he or she was always there to get the kids from school, and he only has to book 4 days to get 12 off, and they do get to spend quite a bit of time together, and go out quite a bit at lunchtimes and mornings or afternoons, whereas many other (day) workers cannot. Also, my cousin always has the car during the day. (She doesn't work as she retired at 55 - several years ago...) Plus he gets £14.50 an hour with night shift allowance. (£400 a week for his 28 hours.)

In HIS words, for someone uneducated and (past) middle age like him now, there is not much else for him, that would pay £400 a week for 28 hours. And his workmates are great, and the job is fairly easy/laid back.

So I don't think he will ever leave. (Til retirement!)

His sleep patterns are not great though. He sometimes gets up at 1pm after a nightshift (after not going to bed til 8am,) and then sleeps 14 hours once a week or so on his nights off. (Like 9pm til 11am.) And he does seem to have quite a few (minor) ailments. But that's maybe him being a man! Lots of them have one ailment after another when they hit middle age!

Maybe give it a go, and try it for size. Better pay and less hours is appealing.

Previous job I worked nights for 17 years.
Did 7 straight nights every 6 weeks.
First four nights were awful ,didn't sleep much in the day ,just had to struggle through. Had a 30 minute commute ,God knows how I drove home sometimes, was falling asleep after about 10 mins in.
By night 6 and 7 though was going through ok.But the flip side being I couldn't revert back to normal sleeping pattern easily.
Sometimes took weeks.
However the more relaxed conditions (no stressed out managers) and good pay meant I stayed.
Redundancy brought it to a natural end, I would not do nights again unless had no other option.

I used to work very late nights but not all night. It plays havoc with everything - eating, social life etc. On the nights I didn't work I found it impossible to sleep. Then I started to get ill - I had a cough that lasted three months. After I left it took years to sort my sleep patterns out. DH worked nights for a time and a colleague told him most people can only stick it for 2 years max. Its really hard to sleep on a sunny summer day as you feel you should be out enjoying it.

I worked nights several years ago (health care professional) but no children at the time.
I am definitely a night owl (still am!) so didn't struggle too much with the shifts and used to love going to bed when everyone was getting up. The nights I worked were all work/no play but the extra time off made up for that. I only really changed because of promotion.
I think it will also depend on the age of your kids and how much you would have to do when you get in from work and what you will have to do when you get up when you have a night shift that night.
If you do try them:
Get some good blackout curtains for the summer
Think about your diet and how to keep it healthy (small regular nutritious meals) as its very easy to eat rubbish.
Have something to eat before you go to bed, stops you waking up with hunger!

Echoing what Filler says my DH nearly crashed his car or fell asleep at the wheel so many times after finishing a night shift, it's dangerous.

Another thing to think about is the school run - I was never home in time to see my dcs before they went to school and I really missed that but I would pick them up so I could have a maximum of about 4 hours sleep before I had to get up and get ready for pick up time. I used to be so anxious about oversleeping and being late for pick up that I would never sleep properly and be even more exhausted for my next shift. I did save about £500 per month though through not paying for childcare and enhanced pay

The World Health Organisation classes night shift working as a carcinogen.

I'm a natural night owl and they suit me. I think it's easier to do permanent nights than a mixture of shift patterns, but I know they don't suit some people who struggle to sleep in the day.