3 Reasons You Might Want to Consider Quitting Night Shift
Reasons To Quit Night Shift
There are a number of benefits to working the night shift such as higher pay, but it also presents some major drawbacks. Here are a few of those drawbacks to help you decide if working those late hours is right for you.
In today’s world, many businesses often want (or need) to be open 24/7. While this is often a great strategy for a growing organization, that means someone needs to work those late hours.
Unfortunately, those night shifts can often tied to some very serious problems. If any of the reasons we provide below sound serious enough to you, it might be time to look for another career opportunity or change up shifts.
Reasons To Quit Night Shift
1. The Circadian Rhythm and Health Problems
Did you know your body has a natural clock built in – it’s called your circadian rhythm. That’s what tells you when it’s time to sleep and keeps your internal systems moving at the proper rate – basically timing your entire life.
The night shift goes directly against your circadian rhythm. That is if you’re one of the majority of people who are active during the day and sleep at night.
Suddenly shifting your sleep pattern to work nights throws your circadian rhythm for a loop. As such, many people who work the night shift start to experience major health concerns.
Heart attacks, blood pressure issues, and other cardiovascular problems can come at an increased risk for those who have been working the night shift for an extended period of time.
Your overall health is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly and should be considered when deciding if the night shift is right for you.
2. Safety Concerns
Besides worrying about your health, some night shift workers often stress about falling victim to potential criminals. In retail and other security related roles, night shift employees are either by themselves or with very few coworkers – making it easier for a crime to take place.
Another safety concern to consider is how well you work during those late hours. It could pose a risk if you operate heavy equipment late at night but aren’t a “night person” for example.
No job is worth getting hurt or accidentally hurting someone else over.
3. Productivity Drops
Finally, if you notice that you don’t get a lot done working the night shift hours, maybe it’s time to quit.
You’re naturally used to doing things during the day, but when you don’t get off until 7 AM or later, you overcompensate with sleep. In short, you sleep through the majority of your off-time and by the time you wake up for your next shift, you’re still tired.
It also throws off your ability to be productive on your days off if you don’t properly allocate your daily time.
“Night shift workers sleep less hours, had higher weight, body mass index and abdominal circumference when compared to the day shift workers. Night shift workers had almost 3 times higher association with abdominal obesity independent of age and gender, than day shift workers.”
— DMS Journal
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How do you combat the effects of working late night shifts?
Slowly Transition Into the Role
If you are able to, start by working a few nights a week and slowly increase the number of night shifts you work from there. Getting thrown into 7 straight days of night shifts when your mind and body aren’t prepared is a disaster waiting to happen.
Keep Healthy Habits
If you do decide to keep working your night shift, make sure to take care of your body. Drinking lots of water, keeping up with sleep, steering clear of alcohol and avoiding unhealthy foods is a great start.
Wrapping Up | Working the Night Shift
Throughout many industries today, having employees work the night shift is a necessary part of the regular workday. Organizations operate through those late nights to generate as much volume as possible and meet the demands of their clients.
For many workers, the extra pay garnered by working the night shift isn’t worth the problems it causes. With that said, some people are wired differently. Night owls can typically pull off the night shift without too much worry. So, which are you?
The goal here is to decide if the night shift is right for you and make a decision based on how well you could handle such late hours.
We hope this helps and best of luck in your career!
Title: 3 Reasons You Might want to Consider Quitting Night Shift
Category: Career Development
Tags: reasons to quit night shift, reasons to work night shift, is night shift worth it, working at night, working graveyard, night shift depression, is working night shift bad for your health, what time is graveyard shift, night shift stress
Co-Author: Becky is a contributor for theJub. She’s a writing and talent acquisition specialist who loves to apply her skills through creative writing and editing.
