Photo by Karolina Grabowska
Sleep and Shiftwork
Operational ambulance staff are required 24 hours a day to service the community, so it’s natural that paramedics work shift rosters. One of the biggest challenges is the irregularity of sleep. Excessive sleepiness, reductions in total sleep time, reduced stage 2 / REM and insomnia are all reported adverse side effects (Savic et al., 2019).
Cogitative impairments due to excessive sleepiness have been linked to occupational mistakes and accidents (Kecklund & Axelsson, 2016). Zhai et al. (2015) also highlights a greater risk of depression associated with poor sleep.
“shift-work that involves circadian disruption is probably carcinogenic to humans” (Straif et al., 2007)
There are also physical effects:
Metabolic
Type II Diabetes, weight gain
Cardiovascular
Coronary heart disease, stroke, physically unfit.
There can also be social challenges if the shifts line up with family and friends non-working times.
Savic et al., 2019 reported adaptive means like healthy eating, meal planning, exercise and avoiding substances like medication for sleeping, alcohol and caffeine had a positive effect on quality sleep.
I have not done a lot of shift work that involved nights, yet. The longest period was for 9 months, and it also included weekends. I certainly felt a lot of what is described above.
My brain does not always switch off when I need it to but once asleep, I can stay asleep unless I get over heated. I am one of those people that leaves a fan running.
Overstimulation keeps me awake – I bought a great app years ago called Relax+. It’s a (very) Scottish sounding hypnotherapist that guides you to sleep and gives options to focus on overthinking, self-belief, etc. I only use when I’m own my own. My fella would never cope with his accent.
I also like a very dark environment to sleep in. I had been using a sleep mask and ear plugs but they were not comfortable to wear two or more sleeps in a row. We installed a block out blind two weeks ago and I have been getting great sleep. I really didn’t expect it to work as well it is. The room can now be made dark on brighter days.
I know that when I’m tired, I don’t perform at my best (brain fog). This concerns me going into a health profession where I need to be always adaptive and cognisant. I know that I must find the best methods for me before I get into paramedic shift work and then adapt them to my environment.