What happens when we’re up all night? Or half of it?

When I was working third shift as an RN, I’d get home around 8 or 830 in the morning and then try and sleep for at least 6 hours or so. It worked sometimes, but sometimes it didn’t. Even when I got sleep, I just didn’t feel rested.

I’d stick to the same schedule though (roughly) on days off, because if I didn’t, I felt even more exhausted. A lot of my coworkers would attempt to live normal lives on their days off, due to having younger kids or other daytime commitments. It was tough. I spent close to a year trying to make it work, and then decided that it just wasn’t for me. This is aside from the many negative health effects of shift work.

Then there’s this concept of the mind after midnight, a hypothesis developed by researchers who examined changes in behavior and cognition after the witching hour. Suffice it to say that their findings suggest that it’s better to be sleeping at night. They hypothesized that our mood worsens, our judgement isn’t the greatest, and we’re more impulsive. This can lead to trouble at a time when no one’s awake to help us out. Well, except for all the other night owls.

It’s an interesting hypothesis.

My experience most recently with being up at night was that there was really nothing to do. Many of the stores that used to be 24-hour, were now-post COVID- closed at night. So I would be left at home, to watch netflix, catch up on chores (without trying to make too much noise), and squeeze in visits with family and friends when I could.

Now that I’m back to a more “normal” routine, I’m back with the land of the living. I’m able to do things like go to the library, and sign up for book clubs and the like. Working third shift, my life revolved around trying to get enough sleep and always feeling like, no matter how much I got, it was never enough.

But I got to see a lot of sunrises and sunsets. I had the gym almost to myself at midnight. I worked 3 nights a week, so I had a lot of down-time.

The negatives outweighed the positives though.

Now, when I can’t sleep in the middle of the night, I like to put on an audiobook and listen to it until I fall asleep. Sometimes I’ll make cocoa. And eventually, hopefully, fall back asleep.

And considering the mind after midnight, night is best for rest anyway.