Whats up with my sleep?

wbens · 23-Mar-06, 02:40 AM

Ok for some reason I have been sleeping alot. My work hours changed a couple weeks ago and now I dont get off till 11:30pm. Anyways I usually am asleep by 130am and sleep til about 8 830 but by the time 12 1230 rolls around I am dead and end up naping for about 2 hrs. On weekends its even worse it seems like. I don't go out all night and party on weekends or anything like that. Is this because I eat my dinner when I get home or what?
Thanks

William

23-Mar-06, 11:41 AM

Schedule changes can be tough on sleep patterns. My guess is you are probably not getting into a deep enough sleep. Does your sleep seem like its full of dreams? Do you feel rested when you waken? Or do you wake up feeling groggy? Also, how large is the dinner you eat when you get home? I'm not sure how much that would play into getting a poor nights sleep.

wbens · 23-Mar-06, 11:50 AM

When I wake up I usually feel like I could sleep for another couple hours. I don't recall having any dreams, but I don't tend to remeber things like that real well. Dinner is usually a bowl or soup or salad something like that.

William

Maxgain · 23-Mar-06, 12:27 PM

If i ws working till half eleven going to bed at half one and getting up at half eight i would be in absolute bits. It i perfectly normal you will need to sort it out to get more sleep.

Rats! · 23-Mar-06, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronMan

Schedule changes can be tough on sleep patterns. My guess is you are probably not getting into a deep enough sleep. Does your sleep seem like its full of dreams? Do you feel rested when you waken? Or do you wake up feeling groggy? Also, how large is the dinner you eat when you get home? I'm not sure how much that would play into getting a poor nights sleep.

do dreams mean you arent getting a deep sleep?

**.V.** · 23-Mar-06, 08:29 PM

Naah, dreams happen during REM sleep - the most restful part when your brain is re-setting so that you can wake up refreshed. Just don't wake up during a dream - it interrupts the process.

William, I know you are probably tired of me asking this. But did you ever start eating enough? The starvation process goes in the following order:

1. Body burns fat for fuel.
2. Body starts restricting fuel to various organs and slows down the metabolism to save energy.
3. Body starts burning muscle for fuel.
4. Body realizes that soon it won't have enough muscle left to move around to gather more food. So it starts restricting fuel to the brain.

A starved brain isn't going to function properly - this includes not resting and "resetting" the neural connections - which happens during REM sleep.

mangotango · 04-Apr-06, 03:11 PM

Are you sleeping better yet? I would think that the schedule change definitely has something to do with you needing more sleep than normal...and if you aren't eat enough too, then the combo will hit hard...

**maverick** · 04-Apr-06, 04:16 PM

I tend to lose sleep when I'm overtrained, its one of the first signs I notice. Is this a possibility in your case?

wbens · 05-Apr-06, 12:22 AM

Honestly my sleep hasn't changed much. I think/feel/look like I am eating more. Weight and all that unhappy crap is up. Oh well, its only sleep right.

William

mangotango · 06-Apr-06, 03:52 PM

If you are continuing to feel the need to sleep as much as you described, you might eventually want to talk to a doctor...couldn't hurt at least.

wbens · 07-Apr-06, 01:43 PM

Well I have to go back to the doctor on 4-20 for another thing so if it keeps up I'm going to ask him about that and way the hell my wieght is movin around so much. This last week has really sucked. Some nigths I have been asleep by 130 others its been 330 400 in the morning.

William

mangotango · 10-Apr-06, 06:43 PM

Sorry to hear that the sleep hasn't been improving...sounds like you have a good op to get some doctorly advice on it soon though!

fitricise · 10-Apr-06, 07:00 PM

your body is prolly still adjusting. theres something called modafinil that is supposed to be good for readjusting to shift changes, incase you need a last resort. although your schedule really hasn't changed drastically, so I don't know if you would qualify. just something for others browsing this topic to look at

I get horrible jet lag if I travel even an hour off my timezone, its really screws me up. thats kinda what you're doing, i think if you give it a little time you'll return to normal.

augapfel · 10-Apr-06, 09:33 PM

I used to work nights as well. Finished work about ten at night, got home near eleven and ate dinner. Wouldn't make it to bed until 1:30 or so. I was a walking zombie. I started taking Melatonin to get me into a deep sleep faster which helped. Another thing that really helped was getting some sun. Not like tanning, but taking a walk midday or something so that my body got some old fashioned sunlight. Ultimately what solved the problem was changing jobs and working days again.

--Chris

mangotango · 11-Apr-06, 02:11 PM

Sun helps a lot with jetlag too...it's important when you go somewhere with a very different time zone to get in some time in the sun for your body to get the cue that it is day time. I've heard that for some reason, the back of your knee is an especially important place for sunlight to hit but don't have the medical info to back that up...