Has a lack of sleep affected your work life?

[MaddieHU]

It's Thursday and time for question 4 of the series. Today we want to know if lack of sleep has affected your work life, and if so, how?

[sicklecellnews]

Lack of sleep doesn't really impact negatively on my work, though I may have to put in more effort to achieve the same goals.

[deegan]

No not at all but stress from work does mean less sleep as too much going on in my head.

[Gavj7804]

Not really, i drive a lot but have learned to cope by taking fresh air breaks and planning stops for long journeys. I am generally too busy to be tired!

[Lybra]

Yes it did very much so when I was working, having suffered for 57 years with Sleep Apnea,I was extremely tired all the time, also was depressed, had dizziness, had headaches. Being self employed working with the public, it made life very difficult, my work as a Barber suffered, also I was unable to converse with people very well. This affected my business badly.

[KrierandRosie in reply to Lybra]

I am suffering, also. I can’t sleep, my stomach is often upset, my head aches, I am a mess. I hate cpap. What do you do from midnight to 6 am?

[checkmypulse]

No real impact, just soldier on! Grin and bear it. Sometimes work situations affected my sleep pattern. Round and round in my head lying awake.

[Hidden]

I took early retirement before my sleep conditions were evident so they did not impact on my work.

[soulboy118]

Took early retirement no sleep problems before onset of copd

[MrEd44]

I retired young prior to having sleep issues. I always perform at a very high level.

[Johnny-One]

As I said yesterday, during a work day I can function fairly normally.

The issues arise if I have to attend a meeting, where I will fall asleep if it goes much over 30 minutes. I usually take my Mac into the meeting so I can do other work whilst listening. I am a kinaesthetic learner (or tactile learner), which basically is a form of learning style in which learning takes place by the students carrying out physical activities, rather than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations ... disruptive, like to fiddle, or basically like to keep awake for me.

A conservative view of a typical classroom will have around 29 percent visual learners, 34 percent auditory learners and 37 percent kinaesthetic learners with around 30 percent students of mixed learning styles. Since kinaesthetic learners tend to be disruptive, it is often thought they are a much lower percentage, but I am not convinced.

However I know I have real problems if I must attend a training morning or day. I cannot concentrate for a long period of time, especially if the trainer is doing all visual or auditory teaching style.

Even then, during a normal working day I have difficulty so I sneak off in to the gents and fall asleep in the cubicle for ten minutes ... don't tell anyone, or I go for a walk outside for a decaf coffee, or something to try and wake myself up. I can make it though most days but could not do a job if I was public facing, such as a bank teller, or a news presenter.

Anything I can do to get myself through the day.

[JeffMett]

Yes it as affected my work, I have had time off even though I only work 16 hours on checkouts. I have had complaints about being not very talkative and not smiling all the time. Most of the time I don't feel like being there at all.

[MiniMum97]

Yes! When I don’t get sleep I feel exhausted and start to feel unwell very quickly. This makes work a really struggle. I make mistakes, can’t think properly or remember things as well and I have much less patience.

[RLSEXP]

Fortunately I was able to function quite well without the sleep but struggled to stay awake while driving home. As my insomnia has worsened, it is becoming increasingly more challenging to wade through the early morning "Brain Fog". It has always been difficult to stay awake during meetings/conferences etc and I have to stand up to keep awake.

[WestysWifey34]

Yes it has massively & I am now not able to work because I am just so exhausted & fall asleep randomly without warning. I even miss appointments because of it.

[Calvados1]

I am a retired person. Sleep problems started after I had retired. I tend to have sleep problems more in the evenings.

[mrsk06]

It doesn't have too much of an impact as I just get on with it and try my best and when I get home I just sleep as I work in a care home as a activies coordinator I need to be the one with energy and oomphh to motivate my residents

[LDloveslattecoffe]

Thankfully I work from home online so when lacking concentration take break do something else

[nakedphil]

yes

[Elimills]

Very much so. I was too tired to go for it and make a career that would have matched my skills and abilities. I chose jobs that bored me but which I could handle however I was feeling. I felt too flaky and unreliable to make commitments or take real responsibility. I did not realise that it was due to sleep problems at the time so did not take action, just struggled on. That is a fairly recent discovery now that I am at complete choice as to how I spend my days and the patterns are visible. A disorder like this can cause you to miss your life.

[WestysWifey34]

Oh yes without a doubt. It's made me constantly exhausted, made my depression so much worse, zilch motivation & with no guarantees when I am going to fall asleep so there's no way I would be able to hold a job down, atm with my sleep being as awful as it is, I am unemployable

[iknow_iunderstand]

Yes, lack of sleep affects my life on a regular basis. I have been on SSI Disability for BiPolar Depression for 7 years. And, to my detriment, I don't have a schedule. Often, I stay up until I do feel sleepy, which can end up being 2 or 3 AM. So, I then struggle to get out of bed to strive for a productive day. It leads to more depression & increased unhealthy sleeping habits. I have coping mechanisms for my insomnia & they work a lot of the times. More than often lately, however, I try to wait until I get sleepy. Unfortunately 😔 it's not working out that well at all.

[gbn_]

I am retired, but now I'm up most of the night, I also need a sound machine for the ringing in my ears, it's 24/7.

[KrierandRosie]

Glad to find people who suffer as I do. I wish we could get together and meet. I cannot discuss this with anyone. People are not interested in others’ issues.

[Hidden]

I’m new to this forum I suffer from insomnia. I took early retirement so no impact on work but big impact on driving.

[Hidden]

I’m thinking of trying white noise to sleep has anyone tried this. I know it works on kids.