My work schedule is 6pm to 6:30am. I eat, sleep, poop, shower, etc. at consistent times workdays or off days. Maybe I'm not understanding circadian rhythms correctly, but keeping those things consistent is part of what I understand it to be. I have done what 99% of the people I've worked with on nights do and completely flip their schedule to a day schedule on their days off. Usually by staying up for more than 24hrs on their first day off and then going to bed 10-11pm. Some of them get home at around 7am, get in bed by 8am then wake up at 10-12 instead of just staying up.If you’re awake at 3 or 4AM on a regular basis, then your circadian rhythm isn’t being tended to. And if you’re doing what 90-99% of Americans are doing before bed (eating, drinking alcohol, bathing themselves in the blue light of their devices, etc.), then that is putting your sleep under further strain.
But I agree with you on one thing: how you use this site and how you come across to other people on this site provides very little to zero insights into how you’re ACTUALLY doing.
That said, it may have provide some insights. And you may not be aware of the signs that do leap through. For example, your behavior is consistent with someone with high cortisol levels... and that is consistent with ****ed sleep and diurnal rhythms....
I tried that. Trust me, if you think you've seen crazy, you haven't. I was on the verge of getting a divorce. By staying on the same sleep schedule I'm a much more agreeable person.
And it doesn't help that I work a 2-2-3 schedule. (Week 1 work Monday, Tuesday. Off Wednesday, Thursday. Work Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Week 2 off Monday, Tuesday. Work Wednesday, Thursday. Off Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Rinse repeat.) That schedule blows, hard.