EMS and insomnia

[w_ocker]

Good evening all.
As I sit here at 0230 on my final day off before going back on shift, having given up the attempt to sleep for the moment, I am inspired to ask your sage selves if anyone else experiences a similar problem. I find that once or twice a year I go through periods of poor sleep. I can only assume its the result of 24 hour EMS ops. I don't have an issue with how we manage fatigue in the EMS world - I think we have that balance about right considering what we are trying to achieve... Then again....
I'm just interested to know if anyone else experiences seemingly random periods of poor or reduced sleep on days off when working a 24 hour (or 12 hour day/night for that matter) roster. Any suggestions/ remedies/ old wives tales?

All spelling and syntax errors insomnia-induced.

[jayteeto]

Exercise helps in my case. I struggle with constant adapting from days to nights and find a half hour run in the afternoon usually means a good sleep that night.

[Sweet Potatos]

At the risk of sounding like an "old fecker" .... Try Horlicks!! :ok:

Now stop laughing you lot ... I had awful insomnia for over a year and I now have one pretty much every night and it seriously helps you get a great nights sleep. Second only to a(or maybe a few) large Macallans ... and far more friendly to your licence ...
:D

[Hawkeye0001]

Hey! I worked in (ground based) EMS myself for half a decade. Was a fun time but at times fatigue sets in and strikes you from behind. What worked best for me was a two week vacation when I felt fatigue sets in. Just get out of all this. I mean out-out: mountains, sea, bush, go hiking, fishing, biking - whatever works. And of course work-out in between. That should put you to sleep fairly quick ;)
Another trick: Try to make use of your natural sleep cycles. Each cycle is approximately 90 minutes. Try to sleep multiples of 90 minutes (e.g. 6h, 7.5h, 9h...). It makes it way easier to get up in the morning because your alarm clock doesn't get you out of the deepest sleep (if I had to get up in only 5hrs I'd even rather skip 20minutes of sleep before I went to bed to get up after 4.5hrs but be fully awake).
That proved extremely helpful to me over the time.

[InDaBack]

We are all pretty aware of the normal body clock (circadium rythym) so i wont dwell on that but some other advice from after my 30 years of EMS shift work is

Diet is important, eat a larger meal at lunch and a smaller meal at night

Dont drink any stimulants after tea. ie coke, diet drinks, coffee tea
turn off the TV about 930 and settle down with a book. Dont go to bed to read it but sit up. If you read in bed you can develop bad habits with actually falling to sleep. Pick something that is boring. I find medical books are the best, they dont stimulate the brain. Dont read any thing that is too stimulating or a continuing story such as those thriller type novels.

Dont spend the night in front of the internet before going to bed.

I agree with the old feeker, horlicks or just warm milk is good with aiding sleep. Use natural stuff... think of a baby that has just been breast fed.. they drink and then sleep for hours.

Try to reduce those personal issues in your life, no you are not allowed to terminate the x-wife,

If you are required to stay awake at night, try not to cat nap. Go home and go to bed in the morning and try to get enough sleep to compensate for the lost sleep the night before.

jayteeto is correct in having an exercise routine.

Try to relax and not worry about whether the phone is going to ring or not. I know in my first few years of being on call, i was always on edge about the phone, if it was going to ring and what it was going to be. Now my attitude is, it will happen if it happens.

hope some of that may help some...

[SASless]

I agree with the old feeker, horlicks or just warm milk is good with aiding sleep. Use natural stuff... think of a baby that has just been breast fed.. they drink and then sleep for hours

Might be very effective with the right Flight Nurse helping out!

On a serious note....I always tried to arrive at work with a "Sleep Bonus" rather than a "Sleep Deficit". That being....stay up in the morning....and do your sleeping in the afternoon so as to awake just in time to shower, chow, and get to work. Far better than going home....chowing...then hitting the bed to awake several hours before going to work.

[stillnoeyedear]

Agree with all, but in the end shift work is just bad for you health. I did SAR/EMS for ten years on the good '10/14' roster, and my general health and ability to get good sleep deteriorated over that period. I soon realised it just wasn't 'old man's disease' but that the roster that was killing me. Flying rate seemed to make no real difference, and I tried most strategies. In the end I told 'porkies' on the FRMS ( like most do!) and got pretty good at flying whilst totally shagged - and that's not good.

So, I quit and got a better job, and haven't slept so good in years.

On a related topic: the only conclusion that an inquiry into the breast cancer cluster at ABC Studios (Bris. QLD) could determine was that it may have been related to shift work, and the effects of artificial light on melatonin levels.