Anyone else work rotating shifts here and have a hard time sleeping?

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   PurpleOneposted 13 years ago

   I just got off a stretch of working 7 nights in a row and am having a very hard time switching back to day mode. It is now 11:30pm and I don't think I'll be tired until at least 3am. Last night (this morning?) I didn't fall asleep until 6am.
   
   I have to work at 8am tomorrow. This is so frustrating. I don't have any trouble getting onto night shifts but have a very hard time coming off of them. Does anyone have any advice? Appreciate any feedback! I'm also procrastinating here so I don't have to go to bed!

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      dutchman1951posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I do and it is very hard some days. I work in a computer room, nights
      we rotate, 5days on, 2 days off, 2days on, then 5 days off. The rotation is fantastic because this way, every other week I have a 5 day weekend, but...
      
      the 12 hrs shifts, and the switching back and forth nights to days and back again is hard on you..
      
      what a lot of us do here is stay on nights the whole way even when we are off. Sleep during the day be up at night as if you were working, plan your meals and such as you would a normal work day but swap the days for nights.
      
      if you can get it consistant you will rest better.
      
      if your like me however all of your friends, wife and community things you enjoy are all on days!.....
      
      nights have been proven to make you sick after a while. especially bouncing back and forth. it runs the body down.
      
      take care of yourself. dont get reliant on sleep aids and pills, no good.

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   h.a.borcichposted 13 years ago

   I used to work moving shifts. I used to have a handheld poker machine I only played before bed. It helped tell my body to get ready to sleep. When that failed, I took Tylenol PM.
   Hope it helps, Holly

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      PurpleOneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Sometimes I will take melatonin or gravol but hate having to resort to drugs! I wish I had one of those handheld poker machines right now. That's a good idea though.. any little handheld game to get me tired. Thanks!

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   logic,commonsenseposted 13 years ago

   I work 2 jobs, sometimes 3 so getting to sleep is usually not too difficult, however sometimes I am so tired I can't sleep, so I come here and start reading the religious threads and they are so boring I go right to sleep!

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      PurpleOneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Ha! I think the religious threads just might do it for me too..

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   bystuffonlineposted 13 years ago

   Did you get off work and come home to sleep?  I would come home from the night shift and stay up all day long so that after being awake for 24 hours or so, it was pretty easy to get to sleep that night.  Of course I wouldn't get much done during that day.

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      PurpleOneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, after my last night, I come home and TRY to stay awake all day until that night but I just can't do it. I have to come home and sleep for at least a few hours. I think that is maybe where I go wrong but I just literally cannot stay awake, even with lots of coffee in me.

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         bystuffonlineposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         That makes it very difficult.  You hate to resort to drugs, but a little Benadryl once in a while probably wouldn't hurt that much.

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   joshuanoerrposted 13 years ago

   It's called shift work disorder, and there are a lot of things you can do that don't include a laundry list of drugs.

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