I work in a kitchen open 8am till 11pm so my shifts could change from 6AM-4PM to 12PM-12AM!
I don't just do lates and I don't just do earlies in a week so my body can never get used to one sleeping pattern over a week resulting me being awake all night not being able to sleep! I'm on a weekly rota also so there is no set days I have days off or set times I work each week.
Over the past few months I've been on mostly lates working till 12AM but then still having 6AM or 9AM starts thrown in there so my body keeps stay up all night!
I could be tired all day working but as soon as I'm getting ready to go to bed or getting in bed I'll be wide awake and won't be able to sleep for another 2-3 hours after getting into bed no matter what time I get into bed! Then it will all repeat over again I'll be so tired when waking up the next day because I wasn't able to sleep the night before and be tired all day at work then getting home to get into bed I'll be wide awake again even if I did get a rubbish night sleep the night before!
Is there any way anyone could help?
I've tried turning off my mind, turning all lights off around me getting into bed with no telly no phone no distractions before sleeping. I just can't find a way and I'm just getting more and more tired each day because my body isn't letting it catch up on a night...
Someone must have a good trick or something?!
Have you tried Valerian Hops?.You get it in health shops.This can help you getting off to sleep and it's herbal.
You may find doctors slightly sympathetic to prescribing sleeping pills for problems with shift work, although they now consider them so addictive they will suggest every alternative first. There's another problem with them in your case: Two of the three major Z-drugs, as they're called, have half-lives of about six hours, so if you've only got six hours to get some kip, you might still be a little drowsy when you have to go back to work with boiling water and fat, sharp knives, slicers and so on. The other Z-drug is used mainly, I believe, to help people who cannot get off to sleep but sleep well once they do. There are short-acting benzodiazepines, but they are older drugs with greater body clearance problems and longer lasting side-effects (maybe principally more of hangover).
I know this won't be helpful to you, but some people find the adjustment needed to work shifts is impossible. A friend's daughter was forced to give up her career in the police because the shift work made her so I'll. She was hallucinating due to lack of sleep. Perhaps have a chat with your GP.
Alternatively, try some mindfulness techniques, a sort of self hypnosis, to help you switch off. Yoga breathing exercises can help.
Sorry to hear this Kayte. I was once in the same position and I'm afraid I can offer understanding and sympathy, but not a crumb of comfort.
Nearly 50 years ago I was an unwilling participant in an experiment at a London teaching hospital where a "new improved" shift system (designed by a history professor who'd never worked shifts in his life!) was brought in, with the aim of attracting more recruits to the nursing profession. Unlike the more traditional system of long shifts with plenty of down time between them, this bright idea involved much shorter, wildly varying shifts with very short breaks between them. I was in my mid-20s at the time and only stayed in that job for 18 months. I left the nursing profession about five years after that and for the rest of my career took jobs that mainly involved working regular hours. But I'm afraid my sleep pattern remained permanently disrupted. This is not a problem now I'm retired from paid employment but it made the rest of my working life difficult.
The only useful advice I can give you is: get out of the job, and quickly, before your sleep pattern gets permanently damaged!
How awful. I really feel for you. I have no experience of shift work but could suggest something which may help you. 'Sleep Soundley' Instant acting melatonin liquid you can get from ebay. As melatonin helps regulate our sleep cycles it is no doubt telling you you need to sleep whilst you actually need to be awake and vice versa. These drops give you an instant boost of melatonin and tell your body to sleep. The only problem is they come from the US and so if you're in the UK you have to wait around 3 - 4 weeks for delivery (although they probably do an express service too).