Is there a difference between sleeping at night and sleeping during the day

I'm working at night, from 10pm-6am. I sleep during the day, I get enough 8 hours of sleep. But someone told me that sleeping during the day is not enough and is different from night sleep, it may result to some illness..
How true is this?

It depends. The average person's circadian rhythm responds to outside factors, such as lighting, to control hormone levels and sleep. In some it can mess with those hormone levels after a while and can cause things like cortisol issues - which can affect weight gain.

Others, especially those younger, have different circadian rhythms and can handle the switch. And then there's some that have circadian rhythm disorders that put them on a longer day cycle or make them more nocturnal. The latter group isn't as bothered by night shifts, but are the type that even when sleeping at night have problems functioning in the morning.

As long as you're getting enough restorative sleep, I can't see it being a problem Except on your social life of course...

Having worked all three shifts, I honestly think problems have more to do with needing to delay sleep, or make it choppy, due to other commitments that come up during the day. I found that if I came home, maybe ate a light breakfast, and immediately went to sleep, without interruption for eight hours, I was fine. If I had to do a swing shift, or had engagements during the day that would disrupt my schedule I would suffer. I still pick up an average of two overnight shifts a month and they really screw me up the next day. I think that assuming you stick to a routine and don't deviate from it- ie stay up all night every night, including nights you're not working, sleep the same hours every day, and invest in some blackout blinds (Target has some really nice, inexpensive ones) and maybe some white noise- like a fan, you should be good to go.

I'm a total night owl, and my mom has "helpfully" tried to educate me on why I need to sleep like a normal person. Apparently, sleeping during the day will keep you from getting the vitamin D (or whatever it is) that comes from the sun. And another one, if you're sleeping all day and up all night, it does something to your sugar levels. I'm a little confused about it, but you supposedly crave more junk and sugar, and that seems to fit with me ( )

There's something about your melatonin levels, too. I know when DH worked the 3p-11 (or 2am or 3 am) shift, he took melatonin.

If I had the choice to sleep whenever I want, what would happen to me is I would push sleeping back from midnight to 1 to 2 to 3 and eventually I'll be sleeping during the days and being awake at night.....
I don't know what's up with my circadian rhythm, it's simply not there. Though I do get jet lagged which makes no sense.
I think it all depends on you, you might adjust but you might always get sleepy at work anyway even if you've had enough sleep....It shouldn't be unhealthy though.

Originally Posted by ut0pia

If I had the choice to sleep whenever I want, what would happen to me is I would push sleeping back from midnight to 1 to 2 to 3 and eventually I'll be sleeping during the days and being awake at night.....
I don't know what's up with my circadian rhythm, it's simply not there. Though I do get jet lagged which makes no sense.

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It might be DSPS. I've been this way for pretty much my entire life. If left alone I'll fall asleep between 2-3am and get up around 10-11am. I have no problem sleeping during that time (barring acid reflux pain or a backache) and it's a full 8 hours of sleep. Sometimes I'll get on a more normal schedule of going to bed around 9-11pm but it never lasts and I always have to sleep in the afternoon if pressed into that sort of schedule. HS was spent being dazed out/not fully awake in the morning and dead tired by 3pm - I'd drag myself home and sleep for 2-3 hours.
My mother is the same way, so she's pretty much the only person who has never complained about my sleeping patterns. Everyone else complains and insists I do this on purpose.

Again, if it's normal for you. Then nothing happens. If it's not your normal rhythm then your hormonal peeks and lows get all messed up.

I work swing between 2nd and 3rd shift and the biggest problem I have is waking up early. I usually am in bed by 7AM (if I have a commitment in the morning and have to stay up, forget about sleeping at all that day!), and have been getting up between 11:30-12. It's sounds that wake me up more than anything else. I'm usually dead to the world until that time, and if I can sleep until 1:30 I'm singing hallelujah when I wake up, lol.

Another problem I run into is 3rd shift insomnia, I have a very hard time getting to bed at night if I have to work 2nd the following day and even if I went to be early my default wake up time is 11:30. If you can put yourself on a schedule and stick to it no matter what that is the best thing for your body.

The biggest thing about sleeping during the day is the lack of vitamin D your body gets from sunshine, this could lead to a decreased immune system therefore an increased chance for illness. I have noticed since starting 3rd shift I'm much more likely to be depressed, especially during the winter months because I was only getting like 4 hours of sunshine a day, just make it a point to get outside some every day to help with that.

Don't even get me started on trying to eat on a decent schedule working crazy shifts!

Here is a really good article I just found.

As someone who works the 2-11pm shift I've found it doesn't bother me if I stick to the schedule. This means in bed by 3am and up by 11am and at least sleeping 7 hours each night. I find a full 8 hours makes me tired, and 7 is a sweet spot for myself. I also find that I feel much better if I take a short walk along the beach before heading into work. There is one nearby I work I usually walk for about 15-20 mins then head in.

Trick is to keep to a schedule I think. I'm modifying mine for an 8am class that is coming up in the fall. Luckily I'll only have 1 day where I have to go to class and then work right after.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

It might be DSPS. I've been this way for pretty much my entire life. If left alone I'll fall asleep between 2-3am and get up around 10-11am. I have no problem sleeping during that time (barring acid reflux pain or a backache) and it's a full 8 hours of sleep. Sometimes I'll get on a more normal schedule of going to bed around 9-11pm but it never lasts and I always have to sleep in the afternoon if pressed into that sort of schedule. HS was spent being dazed out/not fully awake in the morning and dead tired by 3pm - I'd drag myself home and sleep for 2-3 hours.
My mother is the same way, so she's pretty much the only person who has never complained about my sleeping patterns. Everyone else complains and insists I do this on purpose.

Again, if it's normal for you. Then nothing happens. If it's not your normal rhythm then your hormonal peeks and lows get all messed up.

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I had no idea DSPS existed but it sounds EXACTLY like me!! I saw Wikipedia and I though " OMG they have pretty much defined my whole existance" Though I feel like it's probably one of those conditions that shouldn't even be defined, like oppositional defiant disorder or how when someone cheats it's automatically a sex addiction.....like, we can't just call it "troubled teen" and just admit the person cheated. It honestly sounds to me like one of those "medical conditions" though I could be wrong!! I used to be researching into all these mental conditions, for instance dyscalculia- It means you can't do simplest calculations in math but you understand the concepts..Well that fits me perfectly also!! I found a number of mental disorders like this one that I fit the description for but in the end I feel like it's more just a part of who I am, not any disease....

I worked the graveyard shift for 5 1/2 years straight and yes it does mess with you big time!!! I just got a new job going back to the very same work as I did when i worked 3rd shift. I will be on graveyard shift in the next month for more than a year. You need to regulate your sleeping and eat really healthy. I lost the sparkle in my eyes, and I felt real tired all the time. Some say that it's like having a permanate case of jet lag all the time, I agree!!! How much sleep we got that day was always the current topic of my co-workers.

Originally Posted by ut0pia

It honestly sounds to me like one of those "medical conditions" though I could be wrong!! I used to be researching into all these mental conditions, for instance dyscalculia- It means you can't do simplest calculations in math but you understand the concepts..Well that fits me perfectly also!! I found a number of mental disorders like this one that I fit the description for but in the end I feel like it's more just a part of who I am, not any disease....

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Dyscalculia isn't a mental condition... it's a learning disorder just like dyslexia. And it's not just a problem with math - those affected often have poor ability to keep track of time, poor sense of direction, mix up sequences - number order, issues remembering faces and names, and even some coordination problems.
Simple math isn't an issue, most have that figured out just fine. More complex concepts and mental math of larger numbers is extremely difficult or they just don't remember the concepts. Logical math is easier than abstract - geometry vs algebra.

I can learn to do something one day and forget how to do it entirely the next, for example. I have poor face recall unless I've met the person several times (we're talking a couple dozen times, here) - I usually use one feature or their hair to recognize a person in the meantime. I get lost in buildings that I've been in several times because there's a few hallways, I get lost at the small mall I've been to several times for 15+ years. I'll write numbers down in the wrong order, I'm useless with a map, run into door frames, trip over my own feet, etc. If I knew where to get diagnosed around here I would seriously consider it. Though I suspect mine is part of something else and not just dyscalculia - it's not uncommon for it to overlap autism spectrum disorders and is common in non-verbal learning disorder.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Dyscalculia isn't a mental condition... it's a learning disorder just like dyslexia. And it's not just a problem with math - those affected often have poor ability to keep track of time, poor sense of direction, mix up sequences - number order, issues remembering faces and names, and even some coordination problems.
Simple math isn't an issue, most have that figured out just fine. More complex concepts and mental math of larger numbers is extremely difficult or they just don't remember the concepts. Logical math is easier than abstract - geometry vs algebra.

I can learn to do something one day and forget how to do it entirely the next, for example. I have poor face recall unless I've met the person several times (we're talking a couple dozen times, here) - I usually use one feature or their hair to recognize a person in the meantime. I get lost in buildings that I've been in several times because there's a few hallways, I get lost at the small mall I've been to several times for 15+ years. I'll write numbers down in the wrong order, I'm useless with a map, run into door frames, trip over my own feet, etc. If I knew where to get diagnosed around here I would seriously consider it. Though I suspect mine is part of something else and not just dyscalculia - it's not uncommon for it to overlap autism spectrum disorders and is common in non-verbal learning disorder.

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Hmm according to wikipedia, lol I know, bad source, it had mostly to do with math and being unable to do simple math like most people can.

I have trouble with left and right. I cannot use left vs. right when I give or receive directions, unless I write it out beforehand and have though about it. I failed my first driving test because of this, and then on the next one I wrote an L and an R on my hands to make sure it doesn't happen again. I also had dyslexia which is probably what this is tied to.

And when it comes to math, I was the same way with positive and negative signs. For example, I don't know if anyone remembers in calculus the rules for derivatives,the derivative of sine was cosine and the derivative of cosine was negative sine..

Well, I couldn't remember that for the life of me and messed it up on every single test, even though I could do problems perfectly fine otherwise, and they were wayyy more complex than simply remembering one line of text!!! It's just a simple memorization thing, so it made me feel like there is something serious going on with me if I can't memorize something like that ...The way I overcame it was i would write on my hand dc -s or something that only I understand to give me a hint, and I was fine..It wasn't really cheating cuz it meant nothing to anyone else.

And even going before calculus, I couldn't memorize the multiplication table and always had to add 6 four times to get 4X6 for example. And my mom was a math teacher at the time, she did anything she possibly could to drill it into my head. I learned it for an hour then forgot it again. I still don't know it. But I was still able to get all A's in math at a private school that had really strict standards because I found ways around it, like adding the numbers...Don't get me wrong I wasn't the best student or anything, I was just monitored very closely by my parents and had no choice but to work super hard in order not to get in trouble.

And also like all people with dyslexia, I think in pictures only, unless I'm thinking about a conversation I'm having with someone when I will actually think about the words I would say and the person would say...So I am not even sure these issues are problematic I feel like it's just part of how each individual is different..

To the OP- sorry for taking this so far off topic ...

Originally Posted by ut0pia

Hmm according to wikipedia, lol I know, bad source, it had mostly to do with math and being unable to do simple math like most people can..

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Remember, a lot of articles are wrote up referring to children. If you're in your twenties (or older) and can't figure out 2+2=4 you have a lot more going on than dyscalculia.

You made it to calculus? You don't have dyscalculia, you probably just have bad problems with math because so many teachers don't actually even know how to teach it - and that even math able kids learn differently from each other.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, it took me 3 tries to barely pass algebra 2 in HS. I was passed on in 1 because the teacher wanted me out of his class. Geometry was easy enough and provided a lot of useful skills that I still use. I did ok in basic physics because the math wasn't too hard, formulas more consistent, and the science teacher was actually a math major. She also let you keep a "cheat sheet" if you really had problems remembering the basic formulas.
But beyond the formulas that I finally remembered for physics and very basic algebra - it's all gone.


To go back to the main topic some. Some have mentioned vitamin D deficiency. Most people that end up with it aren't on a opposite sleep schedule. It occurs because of age, medication, and commonly because we spend all day inside under artificial light then head home and spend that time inside under more artificial light. You're not getting natural sunlight working a 9-5 office job.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Some have mentioned vitamin D deficiency. Most people that end up with it aren't on a opposite sleep schedule. It occurs because of age, medication, and commonly because we spend all day inside under artificial light then head home and spend that time inside under more artificial light. You're not getting natural sunlight working a 9-5 office job.

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My mom, who is a mail carrier (outside, in the sun, for 6 hours a day!) went to the doctor for a checkup, did all the blood tests, etc., and was found to be severely vitamin D deficient! The doctor said the sun doesn't work this far north. He said everybody should take a vitamin D supplement. LOL, that's a little OT but someone brought it up... .

Actually, yes there is a huge difference between sleeping at night vs during the day.

When I went for my appointment to discuss a sleep study, the doctor explained the many differences. Unfortunately I can't recall most of them. I do know that you get more REM sleep when you sleep at night vs sleeping during the day.

I have sleep apnea, and because of that I now have a restriction that prevents me from working night shift because sleeping during the day instead of at night will apparently make my sleep apnea worse and basically defeat the purpose of my CPAP machine because I won't enter into REM sleep as often as I would if I were sleeping during the night, thus leading to a less restful sleep.

Just try to really sleep your complete 8 hours my friend... is really important...

Originally Posted by railNtrailcwgrl

Here is a really good article I just found.

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great article my friend!...

Wow, there are lot of replies! I need time to read all of it....Thank you!

This is great information!! Thank you Cool cat for your article. Thank you Mysterycat for bringing this on the forum. I will be joining you in the next month on the graveyard shift! So we can be a supportive system to each other. I know what it's like, however i haven't worked that shift for over 15 years. Now I have to go back and do it again! One positive point about graveyard shift is the management isn't watching over you as they do in the daytime. In my field of work the heavy part of operations starts in the early evening and finishes in early am.