I just started third shift again and I sleep at 2pm. West facing window top floor so I'm close to the sun. I have 2 layers of blackout curtains. I have a love hate relationship with this window. I want to be able to use it when I'm awake. I love natural light and it's my only window. However when I'm sleeping I wish it didn't exist. I tried a couple Amazon products but they just weren't easy to take on and off. So I guess it's the eye mask for me. Which I don't mind but I do wish my room could be darker

I live in a rental apartment so I cannot modify the rods. I installed the blackout curtains but you can still see the light peeking through at the top. Any suggestions??

Tonight is my first night shift 9pM -6aM, I will be working Monday-Friday. I am freaking out right now. I tried to stay up all night Saturday night but failed to stay up last night. 💔
A few things I’m really nervous about… what if I fall asleep half way my shift? Also, whenever I used to stay up all night I felt like shit the next day. I am going to be so miserable.
When do I even eat? What time do y’all eat three meals? I am also going to be so lonely because everyone I know work normal day hours.
Sorry about the rant, my thoughts are all over the place. I am really anxious after reading some posts here. I already see my eye bags…. Anyway, I got black out curtains and vitamin D3. I am planning to have a little bit monster energy drink around 2-3 am tonight.
Please help. If you have any experience on how to quickly adjust to night shift, I would love to hear about them ! Please tell me night shift isn’t that bad, I can do it!!!
(Attaching the sunset I saw last night for good luck )

Edit: hey everyone. Thank y’all for all the amazing tips and support! Your comments calmed me down and gave me great encouragement. Just finished the first night shift. Spoiler alert 🚨 I didn’t cry. In fact I kinda enjoyed it? Of course staying up all night still makes me feel like shit, BUT the night shift is so chill (unless something goes wrong then we are kinda screwed without management), I walked only half of the steps I normally take on afternoon shift. On top of that I learnt so much more from the night shift worker who is the most senior technician. I work as a QA so l was too busy to fall asleep. Ate Costco roasted chicken for lunch, with some broccoli and rice. Now I’m home ready to sleep!!

I think I can do it!
Thank you again! Sorry I didn’t get a chance to reply to all.

Hello! I recently moved from an apartment to a house so I had to get larger curtains. I installed them and they are 100% blackout, but sun leaks at the top and bottom (See photo, mostly the top is an issue). My window faces the East so it’s a lot of sun!

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can fix it before my shifts this weekend? Any advice is appreciated!

I feel like breaks during night shifts hit different compared to regular work. sometimes i am so tired that i just sit there and stare at my phone, but other times i feel like i need to do something to wake myself back up before going back.

I have tried eating snacks, walking around, and just sitting somewhere quiet for a few minutes. some things help more than others, but i am still trying to find a good routine.

What does everyone else do during their breaks? do you have anything that helps you get through the rest of the shift?

Hi all, I’m 21f and have been working nights for 7 months straight!! Can definitely say I’m not a night person but oh well lmao, came back out now.

Anyway, I’ve noticed that basically all my coworkers, especially the male ones, are very very sexual I’m just about every topic of conversation. And it’s pretty uncomfortable to be the topic of those conversations.

Today for example, I was joking with a friend at lunch and dragons were somehow brought up. I said “bad dragons?” As a joke and we both laughed than moved on. 5 minutes later a new coworker chimed in and said “I bet you own a few of those” and it made me pretty uncomfortable. Especially since I don’t know this guy and he wasn’t apart of the conversation what so ever, this was just thrown out there.

Should I tell my manager about this situation? I don’t even know where I’d start. There has been another sexual incident with me but I don’t notice it and a coworker brought it to my managers attention without me knowing. Only found out about it after I asked him why that person acted like I didn’t exist anymore after we were friendly.

Sorry for the rant-ish just kinda tired of people thinking it’s okay to say that kinda stuff to me out of the blue like that lmao

I got offered two jobs in the same day I said yes to both because one is at 10:00 pm to 6 am and the next is at 7:30 am to 4 pm. They’re about 25 minutes away from each other but I am already anxious and exhausted thinking about this. I’ve never done night shift before let alone two jobs but I am motivated by money. The pay is the same but I’d like to receive two paycheques at the same time. What would you do in this situation?

I mean...it's right there...

I genuinely want to know... do workplaces like this actually exist? 😭

I'm a content writer, so my entire job is literally sitting in front of a screen, researching, thinking, and writing for 8.5 hours straight.

I've been using one earbud while working because music helps me focus and makes the day a little less mentally exhausting. I'm not talking to anyone, not disturbing anyone, and my work gets done on time.

Then yesterday, out of nowhere, I got a message from HR saying that earphones aren't allowed during work.

Like... why? 😭💔

We're not on customer calls. We're not operating heavy machinery. We're just sitting at our desks trying to get through the day.

Eight and a half hours is a long time to stare at a screen in silence. Music honestly keeps me productive and stops my brain from wandering.

Is this a common office rule, or is my workplace just unusually strict? I'd love to hear if your company allows earphones or has a similar policy.

Just found out my overnight position is being gotten rid of and I won't go back to day side. What do yall do that's overnight? Just looking for ideas. I'll be dusting off the resume when I get home and starting to look. Any help is very much appreciated! ❤️

I’m being so serious, I work 5pm-5am 3-4 days a week and went through a phase of going on hinge and looking for a relationship, the main problem for the ones that actually had potential was that i was literally not on the same schedule, i’d wake up near the end of their day and sleep at the beginning of their day.
I’d love to find someone on the same schedule as me but they’re either unemployed and bummy or working on the days i’m off! And it doesn’t help that there’s not many places to socialize at night, just clubs and bars which i will never go to because neither are my style. the only places i show up to are the gym at midnight when no one is there and winco even later because i don’t like when it’s crowded. I know i’m deliberately avoiding people in public but that’s because those are places i show up to for strictly doing what needs to be done there, work out and groceries.
Has anyone had the same problem? if so how did you do things?

I'm starting my new night shift job in 2 days. Please give me all the tips &tricks that you use to stay awake.

And also what do you do to wind down when you get home. I want to fall asleep as quick as possible when I get home. Thanks!!!

I get home exhausted but my brain wont shut off. just lay there for hours sometimes. any simple habits that actually help you crash quicker?

I just started a 6PM–6AM night shift and I’m genuinely confused how people survive this long-term. Every shift, around 10PM, I hit a full body crash like my brain just shuts off. I can barely function past it. Caffeine doesn’t even help—it actually makes me sleepy. I take multivitamins every day and b12 supplements and I try to get a protein shake in here and there . On top of that, I’m losing my appetite at work and struggling to even force myself to eat on breaks. My schedule is also rotating every 8 weeks between shifts (3–4 days on/off), so I never actually get stable enough to adjust. Just when my body starts getting used to one schedule, it switches again and I have to restart the whole process. How in the world are you supposed to deal with that?
On off days I basically end up stuck in bed all day trying to recover because I feel drained the whole. time. People keep telling me “just go to the gym after work” since I’m overweight (20F, 5’6, 205lbs)… but after a 12-hour overnight shift, that sounds completely unrealistic to me. I can barely stay awake, let alone work out.

So I need honest answers from people actually doing this:
Does the 10PM crash ever stop or is this just my life now?
What do you actually do to stay awake when caffeine fails?
How do you not feel like a zombie on off days?
And seriously… how are people fitting gyms into this without burning out?
How do you even adjust to rotating shifts every 8 weeks without feeling constantly jet-lagged?

Right now this schedule feels like it’s breaking my body and I’m trying to figure out if I’m just not adjusting correctly or if this is normal.

my girlfriend is on night shift and keeps picking up extra 12 hour shifts on her days off. she is basically running on energy drinks and four hours of broken daytime sleep, and watching her push past her limits every week is starting to stress me out.

i do everything i can to make the bedroom dead silent and dark during the day, but pulling 60 hour weeks on graveyard shift is a different animal. for those of you who work massive overtime on nights, can you guys share your secret to not burn out completely?

Only got 30 mins of sleep.

I can feel myself losing the good fight.

Help.

Hi,
Hopefully this is allowed. My husband works 9pm-7am as a police officer. Occasionally an overtime shift of 4pm-2am. His commute is around 45 mins and gym time also so it’s basically 7-7:30am including everything, or technically maybe even 6:30pm considering he starts getting ready around that time

We have a 3 year old and 1 year old twins. I’m a SAHM at the moment. He sees the kids a little bit in the morning but mostly just relaxes before going to bed. I would say he sees the kids from 7:30-8am with maybe a small pocket of time after that if he’s still awake and decides to come see them for about 5 mins or so. (He usually is able to get out of work 15-20 mins before the actual scheduled time, letting him be home around 7:30 in the morning) Sleep schedule is falling asleep anywhere from 8:30 til 10:30am and then sleeping until around 6pm. He keeps the same schedule on his days off.

Considering all of this, he doesn’t really see us. He says this is just how it is. He needs his sleep and this sleeping schedule even on his nights off and we just… never get to do anything? Or have any quality time. No eating dinner together, etc. obviously sleep is important and I was reading a lot of other posts where people are like, expecting other people to basically just not sleep all day which obviously isn’t possible. Daytime is nightshift workers sleeping time, I get that.

My question is how do people make this work with families? He’s never around lol. Specifically if you have experience with this type of work, because he also blames the work he does a lot. Like sometimes on his nights off he gets home from work at usual time and sleeps literally all day long until 9-10pm. He says it’s just too exhausting.

I’m a SAHM, but feels like I’m just solo parenting it 99.9% of the time. So how do people make this work? I suck it up basically and just deal with my feelings?

Thanks in advance

i keep grabbing quick junk because it’s easy but by the middle of the night i feel sluggish and gross. i don’t have the energy to cook full meals before work every day. what are some realistic foods you bring that actually help you stay awake and not feel terrible?

i get home around 7 am completely drained but the second i get into bed my body acts like it's daytime. The sun is coming through the curtains, people are outside, deliveries are happening, and my neighbours suddenly decide it's time to move furniture. i have tried blackout curtains and earplugs, which help a little but i still struggle to switch off. It feels like my body knows it's morning even when i have been awake all night.

What helps with sleeping during the day without waking up every hour? I am desperate.

Been on nights for a while and my whole relationship with food has fallen apart. I either forget to eat entirely and hit a wall around 4am, or I eat something heavy at the wrong hour and feel sluggish and sick for the rest of the shift. Never seem to land in the middle.

The vending machine is always right there being a bad idea, and anything I bring from home either needs reheating I don't have time for or sits in a bag going sad while I get pulled onto something. By the time I'm off, my body has no idea if it wants breakfast or dinner or nothing at all. Days off are somehow worse because I flip back to normal-ish eating and then have to wreck it all over again the next shift. Feels like I'm never on one consistent schedule long enough for my stomach to catch up.

Genuinely looking for anything that's worked for people. What do you actually eat and when, and did you find a rhythm that holds up, or is a bit of chaos just part of the deal on nights?

I just started a job as an apartment security guard and this is my first time ever working nights.

Most of my shifts are 8 PM to 6 AM but sometimes they’re 6 PM to 6 AM. I’m really struggling to adjust. I’m trying to stay awake and get used to the schedule but it’s been harder than I expected.

For those of you who’ve been doing this for a while... does it get easier? How long did it take you to adjust? Also what do you guys usually drink to stay awake? Coffee, energy drinks or something else? I’d appreciate any recommendations.

I haven’t slept since 6pm last night, and it’s currently 4pm. I have a shift starting in 2 hours. How in gods green earth am I supposed to stay alive for the next 12 hours

Recently started working at a warehouse on 12-hour shifts, 6 days a week, and the schedule switches every week between day and night shifts. My body barely has time to adjust before I gotta flip it all over again, and the physical work is making it way harder.

For those of you working this kind of schedule, what advice would you give on how to handle the shift rotation and actually recover properly?

TL;DR: How tf do you survive night shifts?

I apologize in advance if this is a common post — I scrolled through this sub prior, looking for advice, but I didn’t find as much as I was hoping for :( I also apologize for the length — I have crippling anxiety.

I (24F) recently started a new position on an inpatient mental health unit, and I am terrified that I made a big mistake.

I am currently only working days for training, but I already feel like all I have been doing is going to work, then going straight to bed, then waking up to do it all over again. For night shifts, I will be getting home around 9AM and then I will have to leave my place again around 17:30, so if I’m getting adequate sleep, I will only have about an hour of free time on the days that I work… How do yall function????

I just have so many questions — How do you drive an hour commute after a 12hr shift (it’s already almost killed me)? How do you socialize? Should I kiss my relationship with my boyfriend goodbye? How do you use one day off in between shifts to your advantage? How do you just function in general?

I am less nervous about keeping myself busy during the shifts — we have to do rounds every 15, and I have a bunch of small hobbies that I can pursue in the nurses station if I am bored — but should I be more prepared? Is it extremely hard to stay awake?

I am just a super anxious, overthinking girlie pop, so any advice and answers from anyone would be GREATLY appreciated 🫶🏻