Medical Questions » Sleep Questions » Question No. 919
| Question: | In my job ! have to work shifts. I work two days from noon till 8 pm then have a day off, then two days from 8 pm till 4 am, then a day off, then two days from 4 am to noon, followed by another day off. This has gone on for four years, and for most of that time I have not been able to sleep properly. I can' t sleep during the day on night shift, or at night when on day shift. I' m getting irritable, lose my temper easily, can' t relax and have headaches. What should I do? |
| Answer: | You have an atrocious job, with an employer who has no conception of the effects such irregular hours can have on an employee.
There are many jobs which require workers to be on site 24 hours a day, but rapidly rotating shifts do not give the body' s natural clock and biorhythm any chance to catch up. You are suffering from perpetual jetlag, and I am surprised that you do not have more symptoms than you have mentioned.
I suggest that you join with other employees in approaching your employer with a request for a more reasonable roster. This does not mean that you avoid night work, but you change shifts less often.
For reasons of health and employee productivity (you wont work well if you are tired and irritable) you should spend four to six weeks on each shift, and then change to another shift. With a prolonged period on one shift, you can adjust your sleep patterns to a regular one, be it night or day.
On days off, you should try to keep roughly the same sleep times. This can interfere with your family and social life, so if there is some special function you need to altet your sleep time for, ask your doctor to prescribe a mild sleeping tablet (eg. Stillnox, Normison, Halcion) to help you get off to sleep.
Fat too many shift workers are being forced to work unreasonable rosters, with rapid changes in shifts. I believe this is something that unions should be investigating, and acting to protect their workers.
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