johnwassink

I took a couple miligrams of a biphasic melatonin today. I didn't notice the sleep itsef being much different but I certainly feel more rested. I've avoided melatonin in the past because would wake up groggy, as I do with most sleep aids, but I took a small dose and it seemed to help.

That does make sense about the melatonin/REM and I will try that as I have all the other things you listed put in practice already.

I've been a nurse for 5 years, switched to nights 3 years ago (12hr nights). Day shift had me considering a career change...lol. I'm more of a night bird and my natural sleep cycle would probably be 1am to 9am give or take a few hours on any given day. Getting a good night sleep before day shift was very rare and going to nights made the most sense to me. I do sleep well and have a pretty good routine. For the most part I've enjoyed it. But it seems more often than not I am tired and want to sleep much longer than I would need to if I was on days. The only other negative effect I've noticed is that I seem to get sick more often once or twice more per year. It has been harder for me to be productive and motivated in my free time. All of this coupled with the possibility long term negative health effects has me considering days. So my question is, for those that prefer night shift and have worked it for more than a couple years, have you noticed any harmful effects of it on you or your co-workers?