Finding it hard to sleep and is causing problems

Post Reply New Topic

As we are short-staffed at work for a few weeks, I am doing overtime. The job is not stressful, and I can do with the extra money, so I don't mind doing the overtime. But since I've started this new temporary shift, I have been having difficulty getting to sleep at night.
I'm on my second week now, and last week was a nightmare trying to get to sleep each night (no pun intended).
I am starting at 3.30 in the afternoon and finishing at 10.30 at night, for 5 days a week. I'd have thought this would make me more rested and sleepy at night, being so my job is a very physical job, but it seems to be making me very insomnic.
The problem is it causing is I am only tired in the morning and I finally get some sleep, then wake up at midday and have lunch. But then I'm too tired to motivate myself to do anything, so I am neglecting my housework and my hair until the weekend. I can't even focus on writing or reading during the day when I'm not sleeping at night.

I like doing these hours, but I don't think these hours like me. I work evenings anyway when not doing overtime and I sleep OK then, so I don't see how adding on a few extra hours in the afternoon a day can make me more wakeful at night. Normally the more physical tasks I do during the day, the more tired I am at night.
I do try to relax before going to bed. I soak in the bath, read a magazine or do some other calming activity. I don't drink energy drinks, although I do drink coke but caffeine doesn't affect me, as before I have often had a tin of coke an hour before going to bed and I sleep soundly all through the night.

The only time I have slept well since doing the new shift was when I had a travel sickness pill that is also a sedative. The next morning I was up and motivated to do things, and I did sleep OK the following night but then my sleeplessness started to come back. Unfortunately I cannot take a sedative every night, as much as I wish I could.

Is there are other home remedies or tips to help me relax at night after work? I hate being sleepless at night, but I don't want to get up and start doing housework in the night because I live in an apartment and it can be quite selfish.

Sometimes I have a hard time sleeping and I dont even work. To wind down I zone out on the internet. I watch ASMR videos on youtube. There are people in those videos with very calming voices.

I dont know what else to say that could help you. Hopefully some other people here can help.

Make sure you get a good amount of sunlight as Vitamin D can help tremendously with sleep patterns, if you can't get sunlight take vitamin D in supplements (which needs to be taken with Vitamin K to be absorbed). Melatonin supplements can also help some time before bed, as the body produces melatonin as the sun sets.

Finally, make sure your devices/monitors are not emitting blue light, most smartphones have a 'blue light filter' setting that you can schedule as the sun sets. Blue light inhibits the body from producing melatonin which tells your body "go to sleep!". So blue light filters should help convince your body that it's time to go to sleep soon.

Also make sure that you're getting enough potassium/magnesium/sodium in your diet! Electrolytes out of wack can cause insomnia so monitoring your diet is VERY important.

Watching YouTube videos tend to make me fall asleep.

Just relax your body. Make yourself comfy. Focus on relaxing your body.

Watching films on DVD or on YouTube often relaxes me but I read that you should avoid any screens (including TV screens) before bed if you want to sleep. So that's why I've been avoiding screens before bed. Doesn't work though.

Many people fall asleep with the TV on. What I think is that, perhaps, this might become habit-forming.

If you have a timer, set it for about two hours after you start watching TV with the intention of falling asleep.

It's a bit difficult to fall asleep in bed with the TV on because I share a bed with my boyfriend and so when I watch a DVD on the TV or YouTube on my phone I have to use headphones. I don't like to fall asleep with headphones because I worry about turning over in my sleep and getting strangled by the wire. Also the TV has a sleep timer but the DVD player doesn't. And because I don't care for actual TV, I don't have an aerial in the bedroom. The TV in the bedroom is only used for me to watch DVDs on.

This ^