I’m a nurse and I don’t do night shifts. The few times I did it I earned a 150% differential but it’s not worth the money: I’d go back home and have to use noise cancelling headphones to sleep, 'cause people are loud, I’d wake up rested at 04:00 pm, but completely destroying my circadian rhythm. I’d need a whole day or 2 to recover my regular rhythm because otherwise I’d be a zombie.
I hear my coworkers who do night shift complaining about this same issue, but they still pick up night shifts, which I don’t understand.
To me it was impossible to have something akin to a life while working night shift, but I’ve met some people that only do night shifts: the housewife that only works 4 nights shifts per month, the single mother or young wife or husband who work 14 night shifts per month and have the next 2 weeks for him/herself…
I don’t understand why they do it. It’s extremely taxing and not worth it imho.
But if you do, how do you have a life? And how do you keep yourself healthy?
I work mornings from 03:00 to 11:00. At first I would stay up after work and try and go to bed at 6pm which was definitely hard for social life.
Now I “nap” after eating lunch around noon for anywhere from 2-4 hours, wake up, do whatever needs to be done and then I’m in bed around 9 or 10pm at the latest.
The nights are great for appointments and shopping since everyone is working but that also meant my friends were working and so it’s a little lonely until the weekends. Not sure if it’s healthy the way I’m doing it but I don’t feel sick and I get to enjoy my days more than before!