How do you work full-time and stay awake all shift?

A few questions to people who have struggled long-term with fatigue, exhaustion, insomnia, etc.: what do you do to keep awake for a full-time workday? Black coffee, supplements, herbs, drugs/prescriptions, other? None, and it required a lifecycle habit change? Have you had success with “desk” jobs sitting all day, or had to choose a field with physical activity to keep from falling asleep on the job? Does it just “get easier” to wake up and stay up after multiple years of full-time? Before starting full-time I had only been able to get part-time gigs before, but it hasn’t taken long for me to notice my biological clock isn’t set right and every day I’m not sure if I’m “built” for it. Is anyone? Thanks Lemmy!

dominoko,
@dominoko@kbin.social avatar

First things first, do you get enough sleep at night?
I work a desk job and do consistently get pretty drowsy around 2pm. I find that eating a lighter lunch and moving around keeps me awake. Take a walk around the building or something, it's bad for you to sit all day long anyways. I drink an energy drink every day as soon as I get in but I don't know what effect, if any, it has on my afternoon drowsiness.

GutterPunch,

Probably not… I’ve always heard people get 8 hours of sleep when it’s dark, but my whole life I’ve always had broken sleep that doesn’t return to sleep after waking back up, and after years of being unable to sleep consistently at some point I changed approach and just sleep whatever time I get tired. It slightly improved my physical and mental health at the time but my overall tiredness never really reduced, I just don’t stare at the ceiling waiting for sleep anymore. The times I get the longest sleep tend to be when the sun is up, which is a disaster for being on-call during daylight business hours.

willya,
@willya@lemmyf.uk avatar

Well sounds like you already have your answer and it’s that you need to get more sleep. If that’s not a possibility try to get some modafinil.

Joker,

As others have pointed out, this sounds like a sleep disorder. A healthy person who gets enough sleep should not have trouble staying awake for an 8 hour shift. This can be a serious condition and needs to be checked by a doctor. The good news is sleep disorders - and there are various kinds - can be resolved fairly quickly with treatment. Going straight to stimulants is not the answer. You should start with your primary physician and consider seeing a specialist for a sleep study.

hedgehogging_the_bed,

Get checked out for sleep apnea! Being bored at work is normal but not being able to stay awake for an 8 hour shift means you are absolutely not getting proper rest when you are sleeping.

While you wait for your appointment, you can try resetting your sleep pattern by taking a solid 5mg dose of melatonin 60 minutes before bedtime for a week and ensuring you have 9-10 hours before you need to be up. I was in bed for 8 hours every night and got a rude surprise when I got a Fitbit for sleep tracking and found out I was only getting 6 hours of sleep in those 8 hours after you subtracted all the time it took me to fall asleep and any night-time wakings. Turns out I wake up 4-5 times a night and don’t remember it in the morning. Rolling bedtime back 90 minutes felt like a chore but it was worth it to feel good every day.

Working full days does suck so I tend to try to give myself 2-3 things to look forward to during my shift to split it into 3-4 time blocks. Sometimes they are little candies like Lifesavers or Jolly Ranchers, or 10 min bathroom break with phone game, reading something interesting in Lemmy, taking a walk down to say Hi to someone elsewhere in the building, any little activity that feels like something I want to do, that’s not strictly in my job description. Depending on your job you can even plan 6 of them and give yourself something for every hour that not first and last.

_haha_oh_wow_,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

I don’t personally have much of an issue with fatigue but my SO has hypersomnia and she had to get on medication to help with it. Might be worth getting a sleep study to see if you have any sleep disorders.

Gork,

I struggled for a long time before being diagnosed with sleep apnea. I sometimes feel asleep at my desk (not willingly, just passed out) until I got prescribed a CPAP machine.

Now I just need some coffee in the morning and I’m good to go until evening.

TheSlad,

When working in an office it was a constant stream of coffee. As soon as cup was empty, go get another.

Work from home now, stopped drinking coffee daily, take an hour nap around 1 or 2 instead.

Im still chronically tired, but feel better in general without the caffeine dependency.

Quazatron,
@Quazatron@lemmy.world avatar

Reducing caloric intake (sugar and other carbohydrates) and walking or running regularly had a dramatic influence on my fatigue.

Before masking the symptoms with supplements, I would advise you to try to find the cause.

ijeff,
@ijeff@lemdro.id avatar

Have you looked into possible causes for your fatigue, exhaustion, and insomnia? It could be worth some investigation (e.g., blood work, sleep study, ADHD assessment).

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