Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't get sleep after working nights (1 Viewer)

[James L White]

I've been in the 4:20 PM to 1:30 am shift at work for 6 weeks now and I can not to save my life fall asleep until 4 am at the earliest. I'd like to get to sleep by 2 am, any pointers to help me relax?

 

[David Preston]

What time do you get up if you go to bed at 4:00. What I suggest is if you go to bed at 4:00 one night get up early the next day like 3 or 4 hours earlier than normal. When you get home the next day you will be so tired you will go directly to sleep. It works for me. Just continue to get up early and it just might work on changing your schedule.

 

[brentl]

If you worked days would you go to bed at 7p.m. for the next day?? Probably not right!!

You have to options;

1; do as David says and trick yourself into being tired enough to fall asleep. The only problem is that it may only work a few times

2; Go to bed 6-7 hours before your shift starts. It's like me and my 11-7:30a.m. shift. If I go to be at 4p.m. I get up and go to work ... just like people that work days!

My usual shift is to work 11-7:30, play on the computer till around 11a.m., asleep by noon, and up around 7p.m.

It gives me time to come down after work, and enough time when I get up to catch my evening shows(Big Brother, The amazing Race).

Brent

 

[Steve_Tk]

You have to totally reverse your schedule. Would you come home from work at 5 and go to sleep? No. Plus you have to get your eating schedule in order also. You can't eat dinner before you go to work, you have to eat breakfast and lunch at normal times.

Plus, they are ugly, but buy some black curtains for your room so your room is very very dark.

But the main thing is your body has to want to fall asleep. You trying to go to sleep so early after work will not work if you are used to going to sleep hours after work your whole life.

If you want to sleep for 8 hours then go to bed at 7 AM. Wake up around 3, eat breakfast and go to work. Eat lunch during work. Then eat dinner around 4 am. Remember your body wants to be on this schedule, if you eat in total reverse and try to sleep at weird hours then you will become an insomniac. It sounds weird doing those things, but you will get used to it. The only way cops survive is to do it this way.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

You could try melatonin. But really, as others have said, what you are trying to achieve is not realistic. Sleep is not a switch you can just throw and boom! you're asleep. Once you wake up and get moving around, your body and brain get keyed up and energized. If you've just come off an 8 hour work shift, it is going to take some time for you to wind down from that...usually 2 to 3 hours. You simply can't come home from work at 1:30 and be asleep by 2...unless you are exhausted, but that won't be every night. I've been working 2nd shift for the past 8 years and I prefer it but although I am usually done by 10:30 or 11:00, I don't get to sleep until 4 or 5 am. As Steve said, your whole body rhythm changes...sleep patterns, eating patterns, living patterns.

Did you just start this night shift work? It will take time to adjust to it and usually, that is 4-6 months before you are "used" to it. Alot of it is mental. You are awake when previously, you'd be asleep and it seems unnatural. It's the same as going from night shift to day shift work...suddenly, you're working when normally, you'd be just getting to sleep. Is there any particular reason you want to be up earlier? As you get more used to the routine, it's going to be more difficult to fall asleep earlier.

Bruce

 

[Max Leung]

The key to changing your hours of sleep is when you wake up, NOT when you fall asleep. David's advice might work, although going to bed right after work doesn't work for most people!

I like the suggestion of sleeping just before work, although getting anything done during the day will be a big pain!

What are your priorities?

 

[Scott Bourden]

Welcome to my world, all summer long I've been working 7:30 pm until 4 am, and soon I have to get used to going to bed around 11:30 pm again for classes in the morning.

So far, alcohol is the answer to my sleeping problems, but I seriously doubt that is a good solution for most people

 

[brentl]

"buy some black curtains for your room so your room is very very dark."

I must have been doing nights FAR to long .... I can sleep in direct sunlight!

Brent