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Comment by bayesian_horse | Hacker News Reader

Erm, working at night has some serious health disadvantages. even if you get enough sleep during the day. One of the worst things you can do is switch those schedules regularly.

Some people may be able to do this, especially for a few months or years. Many however, will break down sooner or later!

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I have heard this before (long haul stewardesses and breast cancer I think) but was that researched enough to say it like you say? Quite a lot of people who do this for decades without issues... I can see how it can be bad for people, but is the cause of that too little sleep, some reason of anxiety being unable to cope with 'the day', doing drugs, some stress factors that make it easier to work when the rest sleep etc; if one exchanges night with day fully, has that been proved to be objectively bad?

There may be people who can shift their night cycle, maybe even because of genetics or circumstance, but medical science says that circadian rhythms are hard to change and changing sleep cycles too fast leads to issues.

And this may also be a case of how many problems you have. Night shifts might not be a problem on its own, but throw in a little depression, or getting overweight, or whatever, and it's going to suck big time.

This should be the top comment in the thread. This kind of work schedule is not healthy or sustainable. Long term success is like running a marathon.

For most people that's probably true. But I definitely know people that are just like that to the point that it's at least sustainable for them. They were absolutely brilliant, but kind of manic at times, and that's just how they worked best. They'd work for like 20 hours straight without eating and then come home, wolf down some food ravenously and sleep for 14 hours. Who am I to judge the schedule they chose?

Those people may actually exist. But it is easy to miss that they may indeed have pathological (hypo-)mania (and the occasional depression). Or that they take certain drugs. Or that their health indeed suffers. Or that they do break down after a few years.

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