Fixing a mucked up sleeping pattern?

lolage

lolage

lolage

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My sleeping pattern over the easter break has got degradingly worse. I'm not feeling sleepy till 5/6am and wake up at 1/2/3pm - not exactly ideal. (doesn't help working in a nightclub on the weekends)

Slept last night at 5:30am and woke up at 3pm today despite 3 alarms going off at 11pm. Was in such a deep sleep that I don't even remember the alarms going off.

I have a shift tomorrow(this) morning at 8am (under 4 hours time), so plan on doing an all nighter just so I don't oversleep while hopefully it will fix my sleeping pattern!?

Anyone else gone through this/got any tips to fix sleeping pattern?
 
Dont pull an all nighter, that will proper mess you up even more.
Just make sure you are awake and out of bed at 12pm, then you will be able to sleep @ 10pm.
 
I work rotating days and nights. I turn round by waking up early on my last shift. So in bed for 8 and up for no later than 1. I often find then i'm sleepy by 9/10pm so I then sleep till about 8/9am the next day.

Failing that I just stay up for the day.
 
CaNsA said:
Dont pull an all nighter, that will proper mess you up even more.
Just make sure you are awake and out of bed at 12pm, then you will be able to sleep @ 10pm.
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Doesn't really help the fact I've got to be up in 2hr30 to get ready for work at 8! Not feeling slightly tired.
 
I've faced this for years.

In times gone by I used to stay awake for the night, caffeinated if needs be, and correct my sleep pattern that way (as you are planning to). These days it does not seem to work any more...

It's been years since I've had a "proper" sleep pattern. If I try to go to sleep "too early", say more than an hour or two before I went to sleep the day before, by body will sleep for 2hrs and wake me up - no matter how tired or sleep deprived I am. Highly frustrating, as I can often lie in bed for hours trying to sleep but unable, so simply giving myself a "set time for bed" is of no use. Sometimes I can be exhausted but unable to sleep - my brain runs circles around trivial problems and won't let them go - sometimes it's as simple as a random phrase, or a name, that my brain just runs over and over and over for now apparent reason...

For the past few years I've accepted that I can't get a real sleep pattern. I simply wake up when I have to, and sleep when I can. I spend a lot of my time (well, most of my working days) exhausted, but I have begun to get used to it. I learn to "see through the fog" somewhat, and I save the most complex tasks of my job for days when I have had enough sleep.
 
Duff-Man said:
I've faced this for years.

In times gone by I used to stay awake for the night, caffeinated if needs be, and correct my sleep pattern that way (as you are planning to). These days it does not seem to work any more...

It's been years since I've had a "proper" sleep pattern. If I try to go to sleep "too early", say more than an hour or two before I went to sleep the day before, by body will sleep for 2hrs and wake me up - no matter how tired or sleep deprived I am. Highly frustrating, as I can often lie in bed for hours trying to sleep but unable, so simply giving myself a "set time for bed" is of no use. Sometimes I can be exhausted but unable to sleep - my brain runs circles around trivial problems and won't let them go - sometimes it's as simple as a random phrase, or a name, that my brain just runs over and over and over for now apparent reason...

For the past few years I've accepted that I can't get a real sleep pattern. I simply wake up when I have to, and sleep when I can. I spend a lot of my time (well, most of my working days) exhausted, but I have begun to get used to it. I learn to "see through the fog" somewhat, and I save the most complex tasks of my job for days when I have had enough sleep.
Click to expand...

Can definitely relate to your brain running circles in your head. I can't seem to switch off, have to much going on in my head and quite honestly I don't want to sleep - its just boring and a waste of time in my eyes I want to live life. :rolleyes:
 
I work days and nights also.

My last night shift, i finish work at 6, in bed for 6:45 wake up at 11:00, very tired by 2200-2300.

Just get out of bed early, if you sleep until 3 its just a waste of the day and you wont sleep, you will still be in nightshift mode.
 
Managed to do this myself.
Had been getting progressively worse over the last few days (not getting up until 12, and then not sleeping until 2/3) until yesterday where I didn't go to bed until 5am, and so got out of bed at about 4pm.
I went to bed about two hours ago, and couldn't sleep.
I've also got a load of stuff to do.

All nighter it is. I'll go to bed about 7/8pm tomorrow I suspect.
I'd quite like to shift to getting to bed at 10 and getting up at 7, so this would be a good way to make such a drastic change.

It's not something I recommend doing frequently, but it's perfectly doable if you still eat every six hours, have plenty of caffeine on hand (I've got 12 400ml bottles of Mountain Dew in a drawer next to me), and have plenty to do. I suspect boredom is what makes it particularly hard.

kd
 
I've just got in from the night shift after printing the DM for all you lovely people.

After 19 years I still can't get used to night work. We are not designed to be awake at night end of story.

So to help me sleep when I go to bed soon, is a couple of san miguels, after all this is my evening compared to all you day walkers ;)
 
Yeah I'm hoping the all nighter will sort me out.

Annoying thing is I'm starting to feel really sleepy now and I need to be getting ready for work in 40 mins ish! Uuurgh, really not looking forward to work feeling half dead...
 
lolage said:
Yeah I'm hoping the all nighter will sort me out.

Annoying thing is I'm starting to feel really sleepy now and I need to be getting ready for work in 40 mins ish! Uuurgh, really not looking forward to work feeling half dead...
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This bit is the hardest.

Once the sun comes up, your body reacts to the natural lights, and various magic body hormone stuff that I can't really remember start to kick in.

Caffeine helps too, and you won't be 100%, but you'll be able to function.

kd
 
King Damager said:
Caffeine helps too, and you won't be 100%, but you'll be able to function.

kd
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Indeed... You'll find that you're much more easily distracted and drift off to daydream more easily. Also you'll find that you can't think through complex tasks so well and you start forgetting things that you just did or read - I call this "the fog" and it's the main battle that I face in my job these days.

Also, you'll get physically tired (out of breath etc) much more easily. But on the plus side, time will seem to pass by more quickly (since fewer of your experiences make it into your longer-term memory). So, perhaps your shift will be over before you know it.

Anyway - best of luck. I know far too well that it isn't much fun.
 
lolage said:
My sleeping pattern over the easter break has got degradingly worse. I'm not feeling sleepy till 5/6am and wake up at 1/2/3pm - not exactly ideal. (doesn't help working in a nightclub on the weekends)

Slept last night at 5:30am and woke up at 3pm today despite 3 alarms going off at 11pm. Was in such a deep sleep that I don't even remember the alarms going off.

I have a shift tomorrow(this) morning at 8am (under 4 hours time), so plan on doing an all nighter just so I don't oversleep while hopefully it will fix my sleeping pattern!?

Anyone else gone through this/got any tips to fix sleeping pattern?
Click to expand...

Im in the same boat as you, i too am pulling an all nighter. My sleeping pattern is so screwed, similiar to yours. Need to stay away today, get to sleep early and sort my sleeping pattern out.
 
Duff-Man said:
I've faced this for years.

In times gone by I used to stay awake for the night, caffeinated if needs be, and correct my sleep pattern that way (as you are planning to). These days it does not seem to work any more...

It's been years since I've had a "proper" sleep pattern. If I try to go to sleep "too early", say more than an hour or two before I went to sleep the day before, by body will sleep for 2hrs and wake me up - no matter how tired or sleep deprived I am. Highly frustrating, as I can often lie in bed for hours trying to sleep but unable, so simply giving myself a "set time for bed" is of no use. Sometimes I can be exhausted but unable to sleep - my brain runs circles around trivial problems and won't let them go - sometimes it's as simple as a random phrase, or a name, that my brain just runs over and over and over for now apparent reason...

For the past few years I've accepted that I can't get a real sleep pattern. I simply wake up when I have to, and sleep when I can. I spend a lot of my time (well, most of my working days) exhausted, but I have begun to get used to it. I learn to "see through the fog" somewhat, and I save the most complex tasks of my job for days when I have had enough sleep
.
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This is exactly the same for me.

One thing I would suggest is to try some Nytol, its an over the counter sleep aid. I find that it stops the sleeping for 2 hours then waking up and not being able to get back to sleep. Its probably not a good idea to use all the time but if you really need a good nights sleep and are finding it hard to nod off it can help.
 
I wish I knew how to fix it.

I was off work last week so was up late and getting out of bed in the PM.

Saturday I got silly drunk and was in bed by 00:30, I woke up at 07.30 having felt like I had no sleep at all and finally slept until about 13:30.

Cut to last night and I'm laying there wide awake until nearly 4am so I decide I'll go all korean on WoW and get 60% through lvl 89 :( tonight I will be burst and moany as ****.
 
Well I'm awake as of 7:30am, I just need to stay awake until maybe 9:00pm and maybe I can get back on track.
Time to get the real coffee out of the cupboard and make something to bump start roadkill.
 
West said:
I work rotating days and nights. I turn round by waking up early on my last shift. So in bed for 8 and up for no later than 1. I often find then i'm sleepy by 9/10pm so I then sleep till about 8/9am the next day.

Failing that I just stay up for the day.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I used to do when working a 24 hour shift pattern.
 
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