Working at night: pros and cons
Lots of people are sure that their productivity time occurs in nothing but night. Many of them just convinced themselves that night is the only time when it’s possible to stay productive. Yet, such a working schedule doesn’t suit everybody. So in this blog post, we tried to explore the popular phenomenon of working at night and find out its impact on life.
Working at night means being a night owl?
Commonly those who work at night call themselves “night owls”. It’s one of the chronotypes which determine the activity peak of the person. It manages by the circadian rhythms and internal clocks. Night owls' activity time appears after dark and such people struggle to wake up early. For example, it requires multiple alarms in the morning to wake up the person.
Besides, sometimes people break their natural clocks unintentionally or due to some circumstances. For instance, this problem is extremely popular among students. They can’t find a different time to study but at night, because of a side job or other activities. In that way, they develop a steady “working at night habit” which doesn’t always mean that they are night owls. Below you’ll find some “real” night owl chronotype indicators.
5 night owl characteristics
Night owls normally tend to:
- feel exhausted for some time after waking up
- observe the gradual energy raise during the day
- have activity peak after 6 pm
- stay up till the late night
- have no sleeping in troubles
It’s believed that your chronotype is caused by genetic. Though your environment, working/studying schedule, age, or activity level could affect it as well. So, working night shifts on purpose could have both positive and negative consequences.
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Night shift negative effect
As you can see work during night shifts isn’t for everyone. Having night owl tendencies can have negative effects on a person’s life quality. Here are the most common disadvantages of working at night.
Trouble with standard working hours
Night owls usually go to bed not earlier than 3 am. It's difficult for them to get used to a standard corporate job working hours. Such constant overcoming eventually causes burnout and fatigue.
Social jet lag
Social jet lag appears if your lifestyle doesn’t correspond to your circadian rhythms. It means that you have two separate sleeping patterns. The most common is the difference between them on weekdays and weekends. The permanent social jet lag could cause headaches, heart disease, and obesity.
Unhealthy habits
Night owls that became ones involuntarily developed unhealthy habits to keep them awake. They are likely to drink alcohol and lots of coffee, eat late-night snacks, and be very sedentary. These harmful habits often cause depression which is inherent to night owls.
Melatonin suppression
When you work at night your body demands rest during the day. Daylight naturally suppresses melatonin development. So, the person who stays up late and works during the day undergoes long-term sleep deprivation.
Night shift positive effect
Creativity booster
According to the latest studies those who work at night have more mental toughness, higher intelligence, and creativity levels compared to those who go to bed early.
Outplay early risers
Despite the fact, that night owls surely have troubles with a standard working schedule they are more productive between 4-6 pm. Thus, the majority of the early risers can't display the same work quality at the end of the working day.
Social engagement
The standard daily routine assumes rest after 6-7 pm. Early risers have already lost their energy by that time. And night owls just started their active time. So they can easier make new acquaintances during evening hours. Also, some studies show that those who work the night shift have a much better sense of humor.
The bottom line
As you can see working at night has both positive and negative effects. It is much less traumatic for people who have a natural night owl chronotype. However, those who struggle working night shifts develop harmful habits and are more vulnerable to have problems with their health. We suggest you try Balanceo routines. You can adjust all the predefined routines for both night owl and early risers chronotypes. As a result, this will help you to avoid bad habits. Plus with the help of particular routines, you could relieve your sleepy morning symptoms or reduce your sleeping in troubles.
