Insomnia
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: DUS
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Insomnia
How do you cope with insomnia? I don’t mean taking prescribed pills which can cause addiction, but my roster is sometimes 7 days of flying with a night flight in the middle followed by early flight the day after. I go to sleep after the night duty with having trouble to fall asleep then in the evening. I tried 10mg melatonin capsules and it helped a little. Do you have some other tips or negative experience with melatonin?
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: England
Posts: 1,008
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Never did find a solution, best I could do was practise good sleep hygiene
No naps through the day
No caffeine 8 hours before bed
No long lie ins
No food later than 3 hours before bed
Exercise at least once a day
Avoid phone, laptop, tablet etc in bed.
No naps through the day
No caffeine 8 hours before bed
No long lie ins
No food later than 3 hours before bed
Exercise at least once a day
Avoid phone, laptop, tablet etc in bed.
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: I wouldn't know.
Posts: 4,499
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I did realize how much my sleeping patterns were damaged when i was forced to take three months off work. After about a month i was able to sleep through the night for the first time in years. Thereafter i did try the sleep hygiene thing, although it was rather about having a fixed pattern of behaviour in the hours before sleep, assuring i was not interrupted by outside influences (difficult with a family) and calling in fatigue for every unhealthy roster pairing.
Still suffered some sleep problems though, which kinda cured itself by joining a carrier with a fixed roster pattern, five earlies (easy for me as a morning person), three off, five late (hard for me) and four off, rinse repeat. No night flights. To have a few days to shift my sleeping pattern between blocks really helped, as well as being in either early or late mode for a whole block of duties. Exercise, if at all possible outside, reducing my alcohol intake as well as trying not to get stressed about stuff i have no influence over seems to help.
Still suffered some sleep problems though, which kinda cured itself by joining a carrier with a fixed roster pattern, five earlies (easy for me as a morning person), three off, five late (hard for me) and four off, rinse repeat. No night flights. To have a few days to shift my sleeping pattern between blocks really helped, as well as being in either early or late mode for a whole block of duties. Exercise, if at all possible outside, reducing my alcohol intake as well as trying not to get stressed about stuff i have no influence over seems to help.
Join Date: May 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 311
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
trying not to get stressed about stuff i have no influence over seems to help.
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Amblesidel
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think what 750XL has suggested us a good starting point, but it is really about working out what works for you. Also some background reading on sleep might help you devise a plan, 24 Hour Society by Dr Matin Moore-Ede I seem to remember was a good book.
THE UK HSE has some sensible guidelines on sleep hygiene and alertness as follows:
Hints and tips for shift-workers
THE UK HSE has some sensible guidelines on sleep hygiene and alertness as follows:
Hints and tips for shift-workers