Sleep pattern suggestions for shift work

[Nuclear Renaissance]

I'm getting back into a shift rotation after a decade-long hiatus, and my circadian rhythm isn't nearly as flexible as it was when I was younger, so I am looking for good techniques on getting myself into and out of the nightshift blocks. We go from days to nights with 3 off days in between, and nights to days with 4 off days in between.

My wife has a flexible part time schedule and we have no children to worry about, so I can handle daytime naps, sleeping in, etc.

[grantime]

Shift swaps are tough and get tougher as I get older.  I seem to get a lot of help from melatonin.  It is a hormone that your body produces during sleep.  You can find it on vitamin aisle.  It helps reset your clock.  Take it right before you get ready to sleep.  It will help you sleep longer and more deeply.  One side effect that I have noticed is that dreams seem more vivid.  That can be a good thing when its the dancing girls but somewhat less fun when its the scary monster   Give it a try and see if it helps

[Rennhack]

Google "shift-work sleep disorder"

http://www.google.com/search?q=shift%2dwork+sleep+disorder

You will learn the joys of "PROVIGIL", a drug that helps.

To knock you out, I suggest "Ambien".

I understand you don't want to be all drugged up, however used in moderation, some of those pills can help you in a bind.

Some general guidelines for decreasing the effects of SWSD

Decrease the number of night shifts worked in a row. Shift workers working the night shift sleep less than day workers and become progressively more sleep-deprived over several days. You are more likely to recover from sleep deprivation if you can limit your number of third shifts to five or less, with days off in between. If you work a 12-hour shift, you should limit work to four shifts in a row. After a string of night shifts, you should have more than 48 hours off, if possible.
Avoid extended work hours. Avoid working prolonged shifts and putting in excessive overtime.
Avoid long commutes, which can take time away from sleeping.
Avoid rotating shifts more than once a week. It is more difficult to deal with rotating shifts than it is to work the same shift for a longer period of time.
Get enough sleep on your days off. Practice good sleep hygiene by planning and arranging a sleep schedule and by avoiding caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.
Avoid reliance on stimulants, both over-the-counter and otherwise. At best, caffeine and stimulants only temporarily fool the body into thinking its functioning properly. Caffeine and stimulants can further complicate sleep disorders.


Accommodation Ideas:

Daytime Sleepiness:

Provide a device such as a Doze Alert or other alarms to keep the employee alert
Reschedule for longer or shorter, more frequent breaks
Provide a shift change for when the employee is most alert

Maintaining Concentration:

Provide space enclosures or a private work area or office
Increase natural lighting or provide full spectrum lighting
Reduce clutter in the employee's work environment
Plan for uninterrupted work time
Divide large assignments into smaller tasks and steps
Restructure job to include only essential functions
Allow the employee to listen to music or white noise with a headset

Memory Deficits:

Post instructions with frequently used equipment
Allow the employee to tape record verbal instruction or meetings
Provide written checklists
Allow additional training time
Provide written as well as verbal instructions
Use notebooks, calendars, or sticky notes to record information for easy retrieval

Attendance Issues:

Provide a flexible start time and/or end time
Allow the employee to work from home
Provide a part time work schedule
Provide a shift change

Decreased Stamina:

Provide a flexible schedule
Allow longer or more frequent work breaks
Provide additional time to learn new responsibilities
Provide backup coverage for when the employee needs to take breaks
Restructure job to include only essential functions

[Dave Warren]

How's that spell check working on the first part of your post?
Or are you just up past your bedtime?

YOU ARE OLDER NOW, MIKE.

You aren't a spring chicken anymore.

[Rennhack]

How's that spell check working on the first part of your post?
Or are you just up past your bedtime?

YOU ARE OLDER NOW, MIKE.

You aren't a spring chicken anymore.

Thanks Dave, I almost forgot to smite you today.

[rlbinc]

12 hour shifts were supposed to make it easier on shift workers.
I spent 11 years (Age 27 to 38) on shift in Operations, in a formal 8 hour shift rotation  - which was de facto 12's because of horrifically low staffing and the +50% overtime that resulted.

Here's what I did. And I'd like to tell you I got used to it. You basically tolerate it or you don't.

On days, I behaved like a normal humanoid. I slept from 9 PM to 5 AM. On afternoons, I slept from 12 Midnight to 8 AM. Only three hours of variation on those shifts. On midnights, I slept from 8 AM to 4PM - and that really turns your world upside down. I had GI symptoms going into and out of mids for all 11 years.

During my NRC physical one year, the doctor had a checklist of Dyschronism symptoms. Almost 90% of Licensed Operators suffered from one or more of these symptoms - and none were being actively treated for the condition.

I think that better trained doctors with more knowledge of this condition are available these days.

[number41]

I only work 8hr shifts, but they ALWAYS go in 7 day cycles with 1-2 days between rotations.   After the 5 week cycle we get a 4 day off.  It makes for a pretty boring personal life, but I manage to function pretty well by simply treating every day like a normal day shift work cycle.  What I mean is that I only get up an hour or two before I need to go to work and I only stay up a couple of hours after I get home.  I slowly extend that time over the seven day cycle so that by my seventh day I am getting up immediately before I need to go in to work and I stay up until almost the same time I would be getting relieved  for the next shift.  Works for me.....

[ddklbl]

Scotch.  Cures all your sleep woes.

[JustinHEMI05]

Shift swaps are tough and get tougher as I get older.  I seem to get a lot of help from melatonin.  It is a hormone that your body produces during sleep.  You can find it on vitamin aisle.  It helps reset your clock.  Take it right before you get ready to sleep.  It will help you sleep longer and more deeply.  One side effect that I have noticed is that dreams seem more vivid.  That can be a good thing when its the dancing girls but somewhat less fun when its the scary monster   Give it a try and see if it helps

I too will plug and recommend trying Melatonin. Besides its obvious sleep benefits, it is non addicting and it is already naturally occuring in your body. So no worries there. Also, studies are showing really good cardio-vascular health benefits, but how do you reap those without falling asleep? I recommend finding a bottle of 25mg tablets and take one a night. Personally, I only take them when I think I am going to have a hard time sleeping. Also, I swear by black out curtains. I need a dark room to be able to sleep during the day. I have my room down to only a trickle of light on the sunniest of days.

Goodluck!

Justin

[DSO]

I am in 2200-0600 night shifts and I do the following:  The day that I go into nights I get up a little earlier than normal that previous morning and then go down for a nap around 3pm and sleep 2-3 good hrs.   I usually do some sort of excercise when I get off night shift to wind down, then take a hot shower and get to bed about 9AM. If I wake up before I have slept at least 7 hrs and it feels like I can't go back to sleep--I take 2 Tyenol PMs. It may not be the best for family life, but I remember one time that I went to bed at 1pm and got up at 9pm for Mids--and I felt wide awake at the deathly hour of 4am--probably because I got better sleep when its dark in the evening and was really fresh when I get to work.  Coming out of Mids I attempt to go to bed as early as possible when I get home, but get up after 4-5 hrs of sleep (1-2pm) I then go back to bed at 10pm and sleep until morning--unless I wake up too early--then I take 2 Tyenol PMs. Of course the next day I still don't fell 100% as it takes two nights of sleeping normal hours. I never feel as good as when I sleep nights, but I come pretty close a lot of the time with proper diet and exercise.  I also stop the coffee about 1-1.5 hrs before shift ends, so I am still buzzed enough to not be sleepy when I drive home and then excercise immediately at gym or home.

[JessJen]

I too will plug and recommend trying Melatonin. Besides its obvious sleep benefits, it is non addicting and it is already naturally occuring in your body. So no worries there. Also, studies are showing really good cardio-vascular health benefits, but how do you reap those without falling asleep? I recommend finding a bottle of 25mg tablets and take one a night. Personally, I only take them when I think I am going to have a hard time sleeping. Also, I swear by black out curtains. I need a dark room to be able to sleep during the day. I have my room down to only a trickle of light on the sunniest of days.

Goodluck!

Justin

Now with your advanced years you may not have an issue since your natural melatonin supply decreases as you age, but if you have a surplus or even adequate amounts naturally it will just make you batty as a loon, or atleast cranky. 

[JustinHEMI05]

Now with your advanced years you may not have an issue since your natural melatonin supply decreases as you age, but if you have a surplus or even adequate amounts naturally it will just make you batty as a loon, or atleast cranky. 

Didn't know that thanks! I think thats why everything I read suggested to keep it low. I am 32 so hopefully that isn't advanced enough to have decreased levels yet, but I haven't suffered any adverse effects yet.

Justin

[Brett LaVigne]

Uhhh...Try Bourbon.

[justatech]

I too work shifts and I really dislike night shift. Usually the night I am to start - I try to take a nap - it doesn't work - so I am usually up from 0800 that day till 0800 the next day. When I get home I pop a melatonin and within 30 minutes I am snoring so hard my dog leaves. I'm so tired after the first night that I do not need black out curtains. One thing I have learned go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time - make it a routine.

I have made the mistake - if one melatonin doesn't work - take another..............it had the opposite affect on me and I was up for hours. 
Has this happened to anyone else?

To turn the night shift back around...............I come home from work and stay up all day. It's hard but I have a list of things to do to keep me busy and if I happen to fall asleep for a couple hours in the afternoon .............. I deal with it by drinking a few before I go down for the night. Unfortunately we have one day turn around - finish one morning at 0600 - back to work the next morning at 0700 - the rest of week I pay for it around 1300. By the weekend I feel normal 

[Camella Black]

Too much Melatonin not only can make you "batty" as JessJen said, it can actually cause you to become more awake. As a long time insomminac I did a term paper on the subject, treatments and myths.

If you must take a suplement I would follow the advice of many who say to take it is small doses for a short period of time as your body actually can build up an immunity to it. See article: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/melatonin.html

The mothers and grannys of old had it right when they recommended warm milk, it realy does work. I actually use music, the right amount of light and what other hoo doo that works.

Good night, sleep tight, hey don't let those bed bugs bite. 

[B.PRESGROVE]

Interesting read, I find that if I stay up as long as possible 2 days before Im suppose to start nights I am pretty good to go for the night stretch.  I do as already mentiond by staying up as long as possible after I get off nights to prepare for the day shift that is soon to follow. 

Quick little story, My wife teaches high school spanish and two years ago the baseball team was in the finals.  I had come off nights and had been up all day when my wife calls beggin for us to go to the game.  It was about 95 degrees out that afternoon, and I had put in a pretty good days work around the house but decided it would be good to end the day with a game.  Sitting in our lounge chairs on that hot day with a cold drink (coke, this is high school now) in one hand was a bad combination.  I saw the first 6 pitches and that was it.  My wife and son said it took 15 minutes to wake me up from a deep, deep, deep sleep.  I snored so loud that several folks moved from around us because they couldnt enjoy the game, a foul ball came within inches of knocking me out (would not have known if it did), and I had sweated so bad that I was soaked from sitting in the sun on that hot day. 

I have to admit that the mermaids and dancing what ever they were made for a very nice dream. 

[justatech]

Sitting in our lounge chairs on that hot day with a cold drink (coke, this is high school now) in one hand was a bad combination.  I saw the first 6 pitches and that was it.  My wife and son said it took 15 minutes to wake me up from a deep, deep, deep sleep.  I snored so loud that several folks moved from around us because they couldn't enjoy the game, a foul ball came within inches of knocking me out (would not have known if it did), and I had sweated so bad that I was soaked from sitting in the sun on that hot day. 

Don't feel bad .............. after coming off nights (12 hr shifts) I was out to dinner at a really nice restaurant.........waiting - forever it seemed - for dinner to be served.........only one glass of wine. By the time the waitress came my head was sideways on the table and I was snoring!    I'm sure every one in the place thought I was in a drunken stupor!    Needless to say this is not how you impress your honey. The second time it happened    I decided not to go out for dinner until I was back to the "daylight" routine. 

[Nuclear Renaissance]

Thanks to all for the (mostly) helpful replies. I woke up normally but then went with a 2.5 hour nap the first day of nights and made it through the 12 hours needing only two cups of coffee. The second night was rough around 3am, mostly because I could only manage to keep myself down for about 4 1/2 hours of sleep that day. I am going to set up a "cave" in one of the spare bedrooms before the next night block, and maybe try the Tylenol PMs after that if necessary.

I did find out that I'll be 5 on / 1 off 12 hr nights all the way through an upcoming 6-week outage. I'm not sure how I'll arrange my sleep to make use of that 1 day off.

[number41]

Renaissance, I totally agree with you here.  I guess that I normally am well rested enough that the first day of backshift is a little tiring, but I make it.  However, the second and third days of shift are the worst.  The sleep deprivation starts to show it's effects by the 2nd/3rd day, but after that I'm basically into the swing of things and make it without too much trouble.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

I did find out that I'll be 5 on / 1 off 12 hr nights all the way through an upcoming 6-week outage. I'm not sure how I'll arrange my sleep to make use of that 1 day off.

4 years ago I traded to straight nights for 11 weeks in a row.  I just stayed on my schedule (sleep during the day, up all night) Thanks to my understanding family and survived.  On my night off I'd pick a project that didn't make too much noise and then hit the bed a little early, like aroud 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. 

[DJ@Retired]

Fellow Techs, I just started taking this drug prescribe by my Doctor and all I can say is that it make rotating shift a breeze.  I was always tired, depress and just wanted to quit my job. I'm also going to provide a link for you to get a free sample. I really don't like taken pills to perform a job. But this stuff really works.
http://www.provigil.com/default.aspx

What is PROVIGIL (modafinil), and what does it do?
PROVIGIL is a prescription medicine used to improve wakefulness in adults who experience excessive sleepiness (ES) due to one of the following diagnosed sleep problems: obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), or narcolepsy.

In OSA, PROVIGIL is used along with other medical treatments for this sleep problem. PROVIGIL is not a replacement for your current treatment. You should continue your current OSA treatment while taking PROVIGIL.