With the fast moving lifestyle and work patterns there are many workers who work in shifts who struggle with the problem of excessive sleepiness during the hours in which they are supposed to be working or spending time with their family or friends. The symptoms of excessive sleepiness makes you feel like you are having a battle for sleep.
What are the shift work disorder symptoms?
- You feel sleepy excessively when you actually need to be productive and alert and focused with your work.
- The inability to sleep when you actually need to be sleeping, this implies that you will have great difficulty either falling asleep or waking up before you have got enough of sleep.
- You will also have great difficulty in concentrating on various things, be it work or any other activity.
- You feel that all your energy has been drained out
- Also there are many people who experience the shift work disorder have a tough time in maintaining their personal relationships.
The shift work disorder mainly is experienced by people who have non – traditional hours of working for example; graveyard shifts, early morning shifts or rotating shifts. The biological clock of these people is unstable which causes this sleep related disorder which can take a heavy toll on the life of an individual in future.
How can the shift work disorder be diagnosed?
Your doctor will have a criteria on which he will judge if you are suffering from the disorder. Your doctor will ask you some series of questions regarding your sleeping patterns, disturbances and will also enquire on the shift that you currently are in. they can ask you to maintain a sleep diary with some observations that will have to be made by you. The doctor is likely to question you on your medical history and any of the current medications that you have.
Some lifestyle changes that can help you manage the shift work sleep disorder
- Make sure you maintain a regular sleep schedule, even on the days that you are not working.
- Also see that you wear sun glasses, which will help in minimizing the exposure of sun. This can actually help in preventing the day time clock from being activated.
- Take small naps or even longer whenever it is possible for you
- Limit your caffeine intake for hours before you hit the sack
- Maintain a healthy diet which has all the important nutrients, vitamins and proteins
- Make sure you live in an environment that does not have noise pollution or loud sounds that are playing around you.
How is the shift work sleep disorder being treated?
Melatonin is safe and there are workers who it has helped in improving their quality of their sleep. If you want to use hypnotics and sedatives you must be careful while taking these and consult your doctor for recommendations and these should be taken only for a short period of time. In order to improve the quality of your sleep try to keep away from disruptions. Armodainil 150 mg or Modafinil is used to treat shift work disorder.
