Can't Sleep....

[Sockpuppet]

Anyone got any tips for falling asleep?

I am shattered but cannot grab more than a few hours at a time. This week have been working 2am - midday. Really screwed with my sleep pattern.

Get home and go to bed but find that I am not tired enough to fall as sleep. Usually drop off but spend long periods just laying there. After a while I have to get up and make a drink / post here on the lappy in the lounge just to clear my head and have another go at falling off the sleep.

I dont need a great deal of sleep anyway and usually dont hit the sack till gone midnight if I am working normal hours but at the early starts are screwing me over.

Anyone tried sleeping tablets? Any good / side effects (i.e. I am driving).

[hyperD]

Yes, sockmeister...

A bottle of 2001 McLaren Vale Reynella Shiraz and a few Martini cocktails before a homemade cooked duck in morrelllo cherry sauce with creamy mash...

Guaranteed to get you sleeping after 02:00UTC...

[wendigo100]

Avoid pills if you can, SP.

Have you tried reading a book before going to bed? Many people swear by that.

A routine is important too, body clocks and all that, but if you are working different shifts that's buggered isn't it.

[hyperD]

Just to prove that my solution works well... I woke up (but with a fuzzy head).

Sock: I worked on a 8hr rotating continental shift pattern for 4 years some time ago - it felt like permament jetlag and my average sleep pattern dropped to a Thatcherite 4 hours a night.

At first I used to wake up panicking I'd miss my night shift but it would only be 08:00 in the morning and I'd slept for 30 mins etc

The secret was a routine: each time I got home, I ate, had a few drinks (or hot milk) and read regardless of the time (although the drinking in the morning was wierd to start with).

I now have about 6 hours a night but stress is the one thing that keeps me awake.

Also, sleeping on a code problem is great: I often wake up with the solution so power naps during the workplace should be encouraged although probably difficult to proof in a workplace (I did know one contractor that used to sleep on his desk during his lunchbreak. He lasted about 2 months).

[Board Game Geek]

I don't work shifts, but naturally I am a night person, and when left to my own devices, tend to stay awake until 4-5 am, then sleep till 1-2 pm.

However, this doesn't help when working 9-5, and even when I do, I find it a daily struggle to stay in a pattern.

I too go to bed and just lie there, thinking of my new hardware build, an idea for a song or story, what I'm meant to be doing the next day, a game of D&D that I need to write and thinking of ideas, etc.

I just can't switch off and it's very annoying. Even after 30-something years, it still is a PITA.

I've tried most things I can think of, including exercise, but that just make me even more awake before bed time and the brain goes in to overdrive.

Tried a nice relaxing bath and as soon as I get out, I feel really perked up and invigorated, eager to surf the internet or do something, anything.

Not sure what to suggest really, sorry.

[Jawz]

A few years ago I was working 4 days on 4 days off 4 nights on etc, had some sleep problems for a little while but got used to it. Here are some tips.
1. No caffeine after lunch
2. No sugary foods/drinks after lunch
3. I had some of those airline eye thingys, they worked a treat.
4. Sleeping tablets - I tried some, you can get a number of different types, the stronger ones make you feel like you have downs syndrome the next day, try 'CALMS' from boots they give u very little 'hangover' they're not strong, but great for helping you nod off. Valium is also good, strong with little side effects... other than being addictive.

[n5gooner]

have a w@nk or sex they seem to work....

[PRC1964]

For a suitable fee I could make you a tape of Mrs PRC's best friend recounting over and over again just how much of a bastard her husband is and how he treats her like tulip and how he never listens and how she should leave him, but then again she does still love him and think of the kids and they'd have to sell the house and he did buy her a lovely birthday present.....


If that doesn't get you to sleep then you are a lost cause.

[BrilloPad]

For a suitable fee I could make you a tape of Mrs PRC's best friend recounting over and over again just how much of a bastard her husband is and how he treats her like tulip and how he never listens and how she should leave him, but then again she does still love him and think of the kids and they'd have to sell the house and he did buy her a lovely birthday present.....


If that doesn't get you to sleep then you are a lost cause.

Story of my marriage.

[sasguru]

The key thing is not to lose sleep over insomnia. Sounds trite but it's true. Lack of sleep will not kill you or make you go mad. It'll just make you tired the next day, ready for sleep the following night.

Follow these rules, and I guarantee you'll be sleeping like a baby in a week.

0) Don't worry about not sleeping - do something constructive with the time.
1) No naps outside your routine sleep hours
2) No caffeine after midday
3) definitely no sleeping pills - you may become dependent.
4) try to stick to a routine even if you do shift work.

Let your body decide when it's tired - at most you'll lose a few days sleep before adjusting.