Shift Work and Sleep Patterns

[Jenna]

I work weird hours - often late evenings and very early mornings - and I really struggle to find a sleeping pattern that works. I'm always tired and irritable and can't find a way to get through this.

[Jana25]

My husband used to work a weird shift were he was on for 3 days and then off for 2 days and one workday would be nights and then the next set would be days. He was all messed up. After awhile he just got used to it, but there were still some days that I knew just to not talk to him at all. I'm not sure if there is really anything you can do to fix this.

[mable]

My brother-in-law worked the overnight shift for years.  He had to maintain a regular sleep schedule, which pretty much meant he didn't get to spend alot of quality time with the family.   His schedule didn't vary though, I would imagine that would have made this even more impossible.

What he did was to buy some blackout curtains (like the ones in hotels) so that he could block all the sunlight.  Then he kept his bedroom cool and he had several fans running to block out the sounds of th household (this was years ago, now a sound machine might do the trick).

[Jenna]

I found a better solution - I got rid of that job and now I don't have to think about being awake an entire night. I jut have to adjust to being awake early every morning instead.

[cheche]

In my younger years I flip flopped work schedules a great deal and being single at the time it was okay. I hung up big fluffy blankets on the walls (to keep sound out), darkened the windows and ended up starting to use a face mask. It worked for me...