Sleeping patterns

[markeee]

I work nights, and really varied hours, which doesnt help my sleep pattern -

I get home 6am or whatever and stay up till 9-10am now, used to go to bed 7am, but gradually gets later and later, when I get b home I don't feel like going straight to bed-people who do 9am-5pm dont come home and go right to bed

How can I get in a good routine for sleeping?! If I don't stay up a bit when I get home it feels like all I'm doing is work, sleep, work, sleep!

thanks

[t8yman]

Its hard, I start at about 4:30am, and kind of have to live a double length day, if I went to bed at 7 - which I should realistically, I wouldnt see the wife at all really, and would have zero social life. there is no easy answer, you just need to find what works for you. I think its best to still try and keep things as normal as possible. wherever I can, I try and get a kip in an afternoon to offset the 3 hours earlier I get up than normal people.

[bunique]

Could you go to sleep straight away but get up a little bit earlier so you have time to do things before work?

[t8yman]

its not easy getting in from work and going straight to bed. try it

[bunique]

I can recommend getting pregnant to cure that problem I know you need switch off/wind down time, and in your case getting up any earlier really would be the middle of the night. Maybe markee just needs to tinker with his sleep/wake times to find something that works - could try having a set routine to bedtime, so whatever time you try to sleep your brain has the same sleep associations?

[dan666]

its not easy getting in from work and going straight to bed. try it

[markeee]

Could you go to sleep straight away but get up a little bit earlier so you have time to do things before work?

[greenfairy43]

I've been used to working 13 hour day shifts alongside nights so my body clock is pretty shagged. I find it hard to go straight to bed after a nightshift. It's the same as going straight to bed when you get in after a day shift.

But I never get the same type of sleep on nights as I do sleeping at night.

[markeee]

I've been used to working 13 hour day shifts alongside nights so my body clock is pretty shagged. I find it hard to go straight to bed after a nightshift. It's the same as going straight to bed when you get in after a day shift.

But I never get the same type of sleep on nights as I do sleeping at night.

[Guest musiclove123]

I work nights, and really varied hours, which doesnt help my sleep pattern -

I get home 6am or whatever and stay up till 9-10am now, used to go to bed 7am, but gradually gets later and later, when I get b home I don't feel like going straight to bed-people who do 9am-5pm dont come home and go right to bed

How can I get in a good routine for sleeping?! If I don't stay up a bit when I get home it feels like all I'm doing is work, sleep, work, sleep!

thanks

[Paul ™]

I've been doing irregular shifts for a couple of months now. Sometimes doing 7pm-1am, sometimes 9pm-3am, more recently 7pm-4am and 7pm-7am and last weekend it was 5pm-8am!

Basically I just sleep when I feel tired, there is no point getting into a pattern when doing shifts like that..

[RABun]

I'm doing the night shift at the moment - working 6pm to 7am its a killer. I get home between 7:30 and 8 and go straight to bed lie there listening to radio 4 for half an hour before i go to sleep then get up at 4 but i usually wake 2 or 3 times during the day so quality of sleep is not the same. thankfully i don't normally have to do this for my job. I dont know how people do night shifts permanently. I agree it definitely messes with your head. Things that happened today feel like they happened a week ago, and i have no idea what day it is most of the time, its weird.

I am currently just working and sleeping and thats all i do. luckily its only for a couple of weeks (touch wood). This weekend will be the first day i've had off in 5 weeks, and i have to find a new flat so i have my sister in law phoning estate agents to book appointments for me as i'm just not awake during office hours. so on top of everything else i have to move in a couple of weeks too.

I am really heading for burn out. Easter cant come quick enough i need a holiday.

How do you night shifters deal with your eating habits? because i'm not at home everything i eat is stuff i can heat up in the microwave at work or bought sandwiches. I'd kill for a proper home cooked meal right now.

[treacle]

I've always struggled with nightshifts and tried all suggestions for sleeping times but found that going straight to bed when I finished was the best for me. Mind you, it was the difference between 2 hours sleep and 4 tbh. By my third night on my brain was mush! Everyone's sleep requirements are different though....probably why I'm posting at 5am

[Donkey]

The danger of working nights is that it's really easy to fall into the work-sleep, work-sleep pattern and do nothing else.

I work five nights a week and find that going to bed an hour or two after getting home works best.

There are many millions of us in this country who are little more than wage slaves with our free-time curtailed in order to make a few quid to keep a roof over our head or pay ridiculous utility bills. The powers that be don't want us having too much time to think.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Donkey

[Binky]

no matter what time you go to bed you have to try and get a good 8hrs with very little interuption. your room has to be dark and quiet and cool all helps worked shifts for years and i have found that as i get older its harder to sleep

one thing i try to do is before my first night shift is to try and get a 3hr sleep just after lunch time i find that helps cheat the body clock a bit

also watch what you drink after 2am as reguards to caffine don,t forget your body is programmed to start waking up when it gets light

[Paul ™]

I don't need 8 hours, luckily I can manage on 6hrs roughly per night

[markeee]

I'm doing the night shift at the moment - working 6pm to 7am its a killer. I get home between 7:30 and 8 and go straight to bed lie there listening to radio 4 for half an hour before i go to sleep then get up at 4 but i usually wake 2 or 3 times during the day so quality of sleep is not the same. thankfully i don't normally have to do this for my job. I dont know how people do night shifts permanently. I agree it definitely messes with your head. Things that happened today feel like they happened a week ago, and i have no idea what day it is most of the time, its weird.

I am currently just working and sleeping and thats all i do. luckily its only for a couple of weeks (touch wood). This weekend will be the first day i've had off in 5 weeks, and i have to find a new flat so i have my sister in law phoning estate agents to book appointments for me as i'm just not awake during office hours. so on top of everything else i have to move in a couple of weeks too.

I am really heading for burn out. Easter cant come quick enough i need a holiday.

How do you night shifters deal with your eating habits? because i'm not at home everything i eat is stuff i can heat up in the microwave at work or bought sandwiches. I'd kill for a proper home cooked meal right now.

[feral chile]

I do lots of night and late shifts, getting home anytime between 2 and 7 in the morning. I try and stay as much 'in time' with the rest of the world.. ie, I go to bed as soon as I can, and treat it like a late night out. It doesn't make much sense (to me) to try and stay up an extra few hours when your body is screaming out to go to sleep.

When the weather's like this, I get a few hours in the sun after I've got up before I go to work. Barbecued bacon or sausage sarnie for breakfast in the afternoon sun... marvelous

Today is the worst day of the shift pattern.... going to work on a Friday evening, when the whole world is getting ready for the weekend

Only 2 more nights though, then off for the best part of the week.... the upside of shifts!!

[Rufus Gwertigan]

When I am working nights I try to keep the house in total darkness. It does seem to help my sleep pattern. But in saying that during the bad spell with the snow I was leaving the house at half 8 at night and not getting home until nearly noon the next day due to enforced overtime

When I usually get in I have stuff recorded on Sky+ and I watch TV as if it was an evening and then off to bed.

[markeee]

Is this a long term thing tony? Irregular shift patterns are really bad for your health. My husband used to work nights but luckily was able to switch to days.

[markeee]

Rufus - yea totally, when I get home from work and it's daylight/sun's out etc..well then it's hard to sleep

I've got 2 towels over my blind so my room stays dark - my blinds are rubbish and let the sunlight through

Problem I have with watching TV after work is that I sometimes find myself engrossed in what I'm watching - criminal minds series 2 atm - that I want to watch more..despite the time lol

[Rufus Gwertigan]

That's the one reason I'd consider moving to days - but it's less money and more busy bodies in!

[cidy]

done shifts most of my working life, various patterns and hours

currently do two 12 hr day shifts then two 12 hr night shifts then get 4 days off no problem sleeping after the days but finding it a bit harder to get a decent kip after a night shift which is unusual as i used to go to sleep straightaway .

[markeee]

Don't get me on about money. I have worked for the Royal Mail during the winter for the past 5 years. Each year our wage has been degraded. I started on the nights at an amazing £6.85 an hour. 3 years ago that was over 9 quid. But here is the kicker. They would ask us to do overtime after 6am up till 11am, and it was not until we got paid that we found that they were paying us £5.85 an hour for the overtime (the day rate). The only day that there was an enhancement in pay was for a sunday and that started at 6am. So if we worked a Saturday night we got our flat rate.

We found out that the agency was charging the RM for enhanced hours and not passing it down to us, and when we complained it was a case of "well if you don't like it bugger off".

[markeee]

done shifts most of my working life, various patterns and hours

currently do two 12 hr day shifts then two 12 hr night shifts then get 4 days off no problem sleeping after the days but finding it a bit harder to get a decent kip after a night shift which is unusual as i used to go to sleep straightaway .