night shifts

[Jacsta]

Hi all

I was just wondering if anyone else did shift work which involved nights? At the minute my shifts are all over the place so I'm doing random days and then a couple of nights and then more random days and its completely messing up my sleep!

I keep having one extreme to the other with insomnia or sleeping too much and I think it's gona make me ill. I came off a night this morning and only meant to nap for 2 hours....6hours later and im finally awake but fearful that I won't sleep tonight...and I'm back on day shifts in 2 days:wacko:

Any tips to train my sleep would be muchly appreciated

Jac

[MyNameIsTerry]

Your circadian rhythm will be all over the place. S

hift work can be difficult if you aren't the sort of person who can adjust their sleep quickly. My brother does alternating shifts but he doesn't seem to have much trouble with - but he doesn't have an anxiety disorder.

I used to work afternoon to early evening and changing them could be a real pain with the sleep.

It sounds like you must have needed that sleep. Getting a long deep one is usually a sign of being veyr tired, when you normally would be waking up through your sleep period.

Try not to worry about it. If you do, you will find it hard to sleep.

Try to keep a seperate sleep routine for each shift maybe? Spend some time before going to bed having a wind down e.g. no TV, do some reading, chamomile tea, etc. It can help.

If you are just starting with alternating shifts, it will be tricky until you settle in after a few cycles which is what my brother found.

Sleeping in the light can be tricky for some, I do it everyday now so I'm used to it. I've found an eye mask helps because it does block out quite a lot of the light. They only cost a couple of quid and I thought it would be uncomfortable having something around my head but I never had an issue from day one with that.

[Dying_Swan]

Hi Jacsta

Shift work is really hard. I used to work shifts, alternating nights and days, and I really struggled with it. I'm probably not the best person to advise! One thing that is important, is to try to keep your meal routines the same, so eating an evening meal in the evening, even if you are about to go to work, and eating breakfast in the morning. I used to find I had to eat very regularly towards the end of a night shift, or I'd feel sick. Small, healthy snacks can help if that's an issue.

Where possible, try to keep your sleep routine the same too. Obviously this isn't possible with nights, but on day shifts and days off, try to go to bed and get up at the same sort of time. After nights, I used to find it helpful to sleep for half the day and then get up so that I could sleep that night.

Is it an option to speak to your managers to change your shift pattern at all?

[Jacsta]

Thanks for the responses guys

I think if the rota stays as it is next month I'm going to speak to my manager about it. Thankfully this time around I've been able to sleep at night and not had insomnia (that might have something to do with my depression being worse at the moment but ill take the sleep)

I find eating at work hard as I'm normally really busy but I do tend to have a meal before work and then breakfast when I get home so that's something as well.

I just think it'll take time to get used to it...roll on my 3 week holiday...