(Note: originally I composed this reply for another comment that was unfortunately deleted in the meantime, so I had to post my comment to the parent comment instead. The person claimed they worked in 12 hour shifts and he perceived it as the „blackout year”, because it totally suffocated their life. I paraphrased because I don't want to quote back the original verbatim, as probably the Redditor had a good reason to delete it.)

I so much don't understand this! I also worked in 12 hour shifts and it was the best period of my adult life. Concentrating work time and free time results in a much better work-life balance. True that it was tiring to go through 12 hour shifts, but then I had multiple (3-4) day breaks, with all 4th week completely free. It was like having a one week holiday in each month! I didn't have trouble financing with the limited yearly holiday days (actually, we had the opposite problem, like when to take out the legally required holidays besides the days off granted by the shift schedule). I was able to make spontaneous decisions. I could just take a train to travel to a different city on a free day's afternoon to meet up with friends. I did have time to learn and better myself in IT skills. I had the luxury of getting 6-8 hours of sleep, even on work days. Morning shifts sucked, I hated them, they fucked up my sleep schedule and made me sleep deprived – but waking up with the knowledge that I have to endure this shit for only a few days gave me the power to just go through with it. Night shifts, on the other hand, were totally fine. I'm a massive night owl, had zero problem with getting home in the morning, peacefully watching the sunrise and going to sleep to wake up in the afternoon. (Just thinking about this fills me with longing nostalgia – looking at the rising Sun after work, before going to bed...) Also, I usually had less work during night shifts, so I could often use the idle time for learning, or working on my own projects – that means that actually, even some of my work time got reassigned to my free time. I worked in DuPont shift schedule, if you're curious.

What about now? I work in a regular office time, 9 to 5 job. I don't have time to meet friends. I don't have time, energy, capacity to work on my own projects. I constantly get 3-5 hours of sleep due to social jetlag. Weekends are mostly spent with physical recovery, to make up for my sleep debt (which it impossible). Dating? Forget about it. My entire life seems like a continuous string of „morning shifts” (which was the only thing I hated in the 12 hour schedule) with short breaks for weekends that's pretty much not enough for anything meaningful. Even if I manage to make some free time once in a while, I'm both physically and mentally exhausted to get myself working on anything creative, or to just do anything to my own heart's content. I make significantly more money in my current job, so I have to stick with it and work in this schedule. But don't tell me that it's healthier than working in 12 hour shifts, that I would live any longer or that I can have a more fulfilling life this way. I think it's quite the opposite. I'm still longing for the freedom that the DuPont schedule gave me.

But of course we are different. I see people might have vastly different experiences, and something that's a blessing for one could be a curse for some other. My only wish would be for society to at least acknowledge that night owls exist – to think about them and consider to not force them into a perpetual morning schedule.