If you ever worked shifts and transitioned to a 9 to 5 job, how difficult was the change?

I’m a nurse working shifts and sometimes 5 days without a pause and I still don’t know if I’m gonna take one of the 2 9 to 5 jobs my hospital system has offered. I’d earn less money, but I’m already 45 years old and I don’t know if I should call it quits and settle for a regular job 5 days a week and free weekends for the rest of my working life. Hustling in nursing is ok if you are in your 20s or 30s but in my 40s? I don’t see it.

I like the extras I get for working shifts but it’s taxing. I’ve been doing nursing for 6 years already and neither do I know how difficult is the transition going to be.

13esq ,

I hated shifts, I was constantly switching from days to nights, 9-5 is much better for me!

667 ,
@667@lemmy.radio avatar

I worked rotating shifts for a few years, and currently work really odd shifts for ~3 months at a time.

After the rotating shifts, and in between the odd shifts I work now, I transitioned back to a regular day cycle pretty quickly; usually within a few days.

If you can take some PTO before starting your new role, consider going to sleep shortly after sunset, and leaving the shades up so you can wake with the sun for a few days. Try not to use bright house lights in the evening, and try to not to use an alarm clock to wake up, just use the sunlight.

Doing this gives your circadian rhythm a hard reboot which makes it much easier to transition back to a more socially common day life.

catloaf ,

Bruh how many different accounts do you have?

j4k3 ,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

A daily exercise routine is my key to controlling my own circadian rhythm and working a 9-5.

zout ,

I worked shifts as an operator in a chemical plant. Took the opportunity to work days about 15 years ago (was about 35 years old then), never had a problem with it. I didn't make any less money because of it, because the 9-5 job was a somewhat promotion. Pro's were for me being all weekends off, like all the people I know. cons were less off time between. Biggest pro; get to be around my kids at more regular times. But it really depends on the jobs.

Frittiert ,

I changed from shift work in industry to a desk job in IT, in my early 30s after having worked shifts for 8 years. I always liked shiftwork, the varied times and the active nature of the job never got boring. I chose the industry because I always knew I would hate a desk job, being in an office all day.

And it really sucks, I cannot stand being in an office and working at a desk for 8 hours a day. Pay is good, the job very interesting, the company and coworkers are nice, nothing to complain - but man, I fucking hate office environments. Luckily, we have a lot of flexibility and work remotely, or take frequent breaks at the office, and generally are flexible in how to structure the work day.

Without all this, strictly having to be in an office for 8 hours each day with rigid times - I would not last long.

OhmsLawn ,

Even if you like it less (dislike it more?) it's healthier.

Shift workers have shorter lives, higher incidents of diabetes, etc.

hemko ,

Idk I was the happiest man alive when I stopped working in shifts. Granted, in my case the 9-5 salary was better than I had in shifts, but I couldn't handle the irregular sleep pattern at all.

Idk why I'm commenting this since it doesn't seem to have anything to contribute but I guess you do what you like. If you feel you need to take the change for your own health and to be able to enjoy your time outside work, maybe it's worth a cut in salary

amlor ,

Don’t have any medical background, but I worked
“8am-8pm work/24h free/8pm-8am/48h free” shifts for 5 years and didn’t have much problem switching to regular 5 day shifts. What I realized too late that those 5 years wrecked my already fragile sleep patterns and 12 hours shifts are too taxing no matter what you are doing.

So I didn’t have your exact situation but I think that switching might be better for your health in the long term in any case.

jupyter_rain ,
@jupyter_rain@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

For me it was mostly easy. I do not miss nights at all, but sometimes I miss 2.Shift. It's so nice to run errands in the morning!

weariedfae ,

I didn't adjust well to it because I have an erratic sleep schedule, probably partially from a decade of shift work. I am also not a morning person at all and adjusting to 9-5 (or 8-5 or 8-6:30 which is more common around here) was brutal.

Is the job actually 9-5 for real? Like an 8 hour shift that includes lunch? If so, that's a pretty sweet gig. Like NOWHERE let's your lunch be part of your day anymore.

Overall I'm happier at a more consistent job time now. Easier to plan around, no more close-to-open bs.

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