There are many shift workers in Malaysia and many other countries in this modern society. Working shifts and sleeping at irregular hours can throw your internal clock off balance, making sleep challenging. Not only can this impact quality of life and work performance negatively, it can also pose health concerns – insomnia can cause headaches, fatigue, memory loss, poor concentration, and an impaired immune system – among other symptoms. Luckily there are ways to address this problem and improve sleep quality.
Your circadian rhythms are dictated by visual cues such as sunlight. This triggers various bodily functions and hormones in your body that trigger sleep or wakefulness. Shift work schedules that involve rotating night or early morning shifts go against these natural cycles and may hinder quality restful sleep.
Sleep deprivation among shift workers typically presents itself in the form of trouble sleeping: difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep through the night, restlessness and frequent awakenings during the night. These symptoms can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes – not to mention decreased productivity at work due to reduced alertness resulting in increased accident or injury risk.
Workers who work shifts often experience these symptoms because their bodies are unaccustomed to such an unusual schedule. But it is possible to combat this through lifestyle and routine changes – practicing good sleep hygiene habits will allow for more and higher-quality rest while working shifts.
Keep a regular eating and sleeping schedule on your days off to help your body adjust to a new sleep pattern. Avoid caffeinated drinks in the evening as these can interfere with your body’s natural ability to drift off to sleep; if caffeine intake must occur at all, limit its consumption to 75 to 100 milligrams daily and aim to consume it during the first half of your shift.
On your nights off, be sure to eat nutritious meals to give your body the energy it needs for restful sleep. A diet rich in proteins and complex carbs will promote sleep; just limit fats and sugar intake if possible. Avoid large late dinners in favor of smaller more frequent ones throughout the day and stay away from spicy or fatty food that could raise body temperature – such as spicy foods!
Sleep aids may also help you achieve deeper and higher-quality rest while working shifts. Melatonin is an effective sleep aid that promotes relaxation. Sedatives or hypnotics may also assist in aiding rest, though such medication should only be used under medical supervision for short durations and should only be used under short-term plans.
If you are having difficulty adapting to a shift work schedule, seek the advice of your doctor or contact The Air Station in Malaysia for assistance in optimizing your sleep and treating any medical conditions that might exist by using the advanced sleep apnea machine such as ResMed Airsense 10 Autoset or AirMini. They may also help diagnose you with shift work sleep disorder which occurs when work doesn’t align with internal biological clock and leads to disruption and insomnia in sleep patterns.
