Late Night

Any other insomniacs/late sleepers out there??

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Not me, at least during the week. I have a tendency towards late nights though, so I curb that by working my ass of during the day so I'm tired at night. The weekends though, I'm rarely out of bed before 10 and usually dwindle into the early hours of the morning.

gmill880

Don't have to work tommorow so that keeps me up a little later

smbrink

Yeah I work 6 on with a crazy schedule and then 4 off. Im on my third now.

j0z3r

What is your job that you have that kind of schedule?

smbrink

Im in the Air Force

j0z3r

Ahh, say no more. That is a wacky schedule though, I'd be a mess working that. My perfectly ordered M-F 7 - 3:30 suits me just perfect.

smbrink

Ha my schedule is first two days is 630am to 300pm, second two is 230pm to 11pm and last two is 1030pm to 700am so i actually end up working 8 hrs on my day off!!! but its an important mission and somebodys got to do it.

j0z3r

Indeed, somebody does have to do it, and for that I commend you. When it came time to decide whether I wanted to go military, after much thought I came to the conclusion that it wasn't the place for me. For myself though, I'm glad I made the choice I did , the timing would have put me over in the middle east and that's one place I don't want to be now and didn't want to be then.

smbrink

yeah i feel ya i was a tough decision for me. ive been in for about a year and a half, and luckily i havent been to the Middle East yet, tho ive been told that its a good way to pick up some cheap cubans.

urbino

I'm a night owl, brink. My body's natural sleep time is between about 3 a.m. and 11 a.m. I've used every kind of sleep med there is, over the years, but it seems there's no fooling Mother Nature.

smbrink

I know what you mean.with my schedule the way it is my body dosent know when to be tired, so i think it just picks random times!!!

urbino

Yeah, there's a name for that kind of insomnia -- the one caused by irregular working hours. I forget what it is, though.

The sleep docs tell me mine's technically not an insomnia, but Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. That is, I go to sleep every night, and sleep through the night without waking, so it isn't insomnia. I'm getting a normal amount of sleep. I just can't get it during the same hours most everybody else does. My sleep phase is delayed. There's an opposite one called Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome, where people fall asleep at, like, 6 p.m., and wake up ready to go at 2 a.m. They found the gene that causes that one, not long ago.

kuzi16

urbino:
Yeah, there's a name for that kind of insomnia -- the one caused by irregular working hours.

seriously.

I just got home from work.

smbrink

huh...thats interesting i need to look in to that

Jetmech_63

I'm in the Navy and i work 1900-0700, plus i have to be in 1 1/2 hours before shift and i live about an hour away from base.....i love my job

PuroFreak

The hours you sleep also have to do with your circadian rhythm. If it is shorter you will sleep better in the late night/early morning hours like Urbs. If it is longer you are one of those sick, annoying morning people. I hate those types of people! haha

I work a strange schedule too, I pull into the PD parking lot around 4:15 am and load up to head home around 4:30pm. 12 hour shifts but we work 4 on, then 3 off, then 3 on, then 4 off. It works out well. My usual days are Wed, thurs, and friday, then every other saturday. It took a little while to get used to, but it works out great. Every other week on my 4 days off it is like a mini vacation.

madurofan

I work a normal 8-5 but my body still has erratic sleep patterns. I think I screw up all the good work the week has done by staying up until 4 every weekend night.

Luko

I work about 8:30 - 6...usually up til about 12:30 or 1 a.m.

urbino

madurofan:
I work a normal 8-5 but my body still has erratic sleep patterns. I think I screw up all the good work the week has done by staying up until 4 every weekend night.

Yeah, that'll do it. One of my sleep docs a few years ago told me that if I really worked at it over the course of months, I could probably get my body to sleep on a midnight-to-8 a.m. schedule, BUT if I then ever deviated from that schedule for any reason -- needing to work late, family illness, personal illness, whatever -- my body would go right back to its natural preference, 3-11, and I'd have to start all over again.

PuroFreak:
The hours you sleep also have to do with your circadian rhythm.

Right. What I have, DSPS, is a circadian rhythm disorder.

Luko

urbino:
madurofan:
I work a normal 8-5 but my body still has erratic sleep patterns. I think I screw up all the good work the week has done by staying up until 4 every weekend night.
Yeah, that'll do it. One of my sleep docs a few years ago told me that if I really worked at it over the course of months, I could probably get my body to sleep on a midnight-to-8 a.m. schedule, BUT if I then ever deviated from that schedule for any reason -- needing to work late, family illness, personal illness, whatever -- my body would go right back to its natural preference, 3-11, and I'd have to start all over again.
PuroFreak:
The hours you sleep also have to do with your circadian rhythm.
Right. What I have, DSPS, is a circadian rhythm disorder.

So not that its any of our business, but how do you cope with this? Do you sleep 3 - 11 a.m. Do you have a job that supports that? Just curious...that would so difficult to deal with. I crash at 1 and get up just before 7, pretty much every single day of my life.

urbino

I try to wrangle it back a bit to 2-10, and have reasonable success. But, as the doc predicted, if I get thrown off for some reason, it's back to 3-11 (or even 4-12). 3-11 is where I'm at right now, after those bouts with the flu, a cold, and a stomach virus back in Dec.-Jan.

As for work, I write software. That's an industry that can provide flexible work hours, if the company is willing. I just make sure that whenever I go on a job interview, and there seems to be interest on both sides, I tell them I have a sleep disorder and I'll need flexible hours. So far, so good.

I have had to turn down offers, though, because, apparently, the people thought I was kidding or just using that as a bargaining chip. I get the callback and they say, hey, we'd love to have you but we need you here during normal hours. I say, thanks, I'd like to work for you, but I already know I can't keep normal hours and I'm not going to put myself in a position where that becomes a problem. I've even had people call back and offer more money, as if that's somehow going to change my circadian rhythm.

Also, once I'm working somewhere, I try to keep the flexibility mutual. Since they're being flexible with me, I'm flexible with them. I don't take vacation days around holidays, when everybody else does and managers are scrambling to find enough people to have coverage. If something needs to be done late at night or on the weekend, I'll happily volunteer to do it. Stuff like that.

phobicsquirrel

Jetmech_63:
I'm in the Navy and i work 1900-0700, plus i have to be in 1 1/2 hours before shift and i live about an hour away from base.....i love my job

that's an odd shift? are you on a ship or something? fireguard? lol. so I guess you have plenty of time in the day to look for burros?

I work about 10 or so hours a day. I go to bed around 10pm and get up around 7am, still though I love sleep and probably get too much. Though I stay up late on the weekends.

madurofan

urbino:
I try to wrangle it back a bit to 2-10, and have reasonable success. But, as the doc predicted, if I get thrown off for some reason, it's back to 3-11 (or even 4-12). 3-11 is where I'm at right now, after those bouts with the flu, a cold, and a stomach virus back in Dec.-Jan.

As for work, I write software. That's an industry that can provide flexible work hours, if the company is willing. I just make sure that whenever I go on a job interview, and there seems to be interest on both sides, I tell them I have a sleep disorder and I'll need flexible hours. So far, so good.

I have had to turn down offers, though, because, apparently, the people thought I was kidding or just using that as a bargaining chip. I get the callback and they say, hey, we'd love to have you but we need you here during normal hours. I say, thanks, I'd like to work for you, but I already know I can't keep normal hours and I'm not going to put myself in a position where that becomes a problem. I've even had people call back and offer more money, as if that's somehow going to change my circadian rhythm.

Also, once I'm working somewhere, I try to keep the flexibility mutual. Since they're being flexible with me, I'm flexible with them. I don't take vacation days around holidays, when everybody else does and managers are scrambling to find enough people to have coverage. If something needs to be done late at night or on the weekend, I'll happily volunteer to do it. Stuff like that.

Thats respectable. I too enjoy an industry where for the most part my hours are flexible. I've always been the same to quickly volunteer to work nights and weekends bc I take advantage of the flexible hours.

mustluvcigars

What is this "sleep" you guys speak of here?

Jetmech_63

Good point. It has taken me the better part of 4 years but i can operate 100% of off 4-5 hours of sleep. All you military guys know what i'm talking about.

PuroFreak

mustluvcigars:
What is this "sleep" you guys speak of here?

I think it's an OLD indian legend that was passed along through tribes across this great land MANY MANY moons ago. Kind of like the "white buffalo" .... Que Urbi!

urbino

Uh-huh. I functioned on 3-4 hours sleep every night all through school and college, and could still do it up into my 30s. Then the many, many moons catch up with you, and that don't work so good no more.

Luko

I need 6, but 7 or 8 is perfect for me. I was never one of those people who could function very long or 3-4 hours. I can, however, keep it up for 3-4 hours. Yeah babeeeee.

urbino

bow chick-a bow bow

j0z3r

Luko:
I can, however, keep it up for 3-4 hours. Yeah babeeeee.

You are supposed to let your docor know if the medication does that to you....apparently it's not as good for you as it feels.