Mmm back in the good old days I used to sleep deeply for 8 hours or so/night. For the past year I have been working nights, midnight-7:30, then going to trade school from 8am-3pm. Not classwork mind you, but hot physical labor. With these hours there was a point that I was getting maybe 3 hours of sleep a night 3-5 nights a week, depending on my work schedule.

I finished my training but still go to school from time to time because I am still trying to get a job in this trade and want to keep my skills sharp. I moved closer to work and school, and that helps. Now I could get 5-7 hours of sleep a day if I could just make myself sleep. So usually it's closer to five. I no longer remember what it's like to feel rested!

I think it's the night shift ... I get off of work and my brain just doesn't want to shut off. I am weening myself off of caffeine ... maybe that will help.

The weird thing is that when I started this shift, all of my friends told me that it wasn't possible and that I wouldn't be able to hang ... and at first I secretly believed them. Then, over time, sleeping longer than 5 hours began to feel unnatural. I don't think that my current sleep habits are healthy, but it was interesting to learn what I could get accomplished with minimal sleep and the resulting decreased mental clarity.

THEDUDE1977

I drove a truck (18 wheels) for 9 years. Due to the nature of the business, my sleep schedule was often erratic. But the DOT rules were such in the beginning that this wasn't an issue, because I could take a nap when I needed it. As long as my rest/sleep added up to an accumulated 8 hours, I felt good, and stayed in the graces of the law.

However, trucking companies notoriously push their drivers to fudge on the log book. There is also the factor of "free labor" that goes along with the driving. In the beginning, driving was allowed for up to 10 hours a day between 8 hour breaks. Now it's 11 hours. Um, did someone add an hour to the 24 hour clock just for drivers? That free labor? Yes.. back to that. Drivers are allowed (please read: required) to work up to 14 hours per day. If the shipper wants your service for the entire day, you get no driving done. Your driving time comes out of that 14 hours. But the free labor is usually in addition to the 11 hours of driving, which puts it at 3 hours. This is daily... doing paperwork, fueling, checking the truck for safety, doing drop and hooks, unloading, vehicle repairs, DOT inspections, etc. use up those 3 hours rather rapidly.

So now we come to the recent DOT renovations in the Hours of Service. IN THE NAME OF SAFETY the DOT has revised the Hours of Service regulations so that drivers now have an additional hour to (be forced to) drive, and MUST stay in the bunk for a straight 10 hours. Okay, where does that leave me? I got my sleep cycle on the short track under the old system. I am menopausal, and can't sleep more than 5 hours at a time, after which I am wide awake.

If I move the truck, I'm in violation. If I sit it out, I'm going to want a 3 hour nap later in the day, but THAT'S a violation. If I try to tough it out and drive 11 hours straight the way the DOT wants us to, I'm in violation again, because I'd be driving sleepy, and this says nothing about putting YOU at risk because of my bad choice.

The truck, having a poor heating/cooling system, wakes me after a couple of hours anyway, because it's suddenly got to 110 degrees inside and I can't sleep in that, or the temperature drops to near freezing. Who needed hot flashes? Mine were built into the truck's HVAC. So there's an interruption. And the doctor looks accusingly at me when they check my blood pressure. It's always high when I don't get enough rest. Amazingly, before I began this "career," my blood pressure was low: 100/70. Now, after less than a decade, it's bordering on putting me off the road, at 140/something.

Does a lack of natural sleep hurt you? You bet it does! It's lethal. The DOT needs to get their heads out of the sand on this. I am an otherwise capable driver with a perfect record.

What's needed in the trucking industry is regulation, not of the driver as much as the carriers, the shippers and receivers. Drivers need first of all to be covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act - that little piece of legislation that protects EVERY other American worker, but not truck drivers. This would give drivers some leverage about what's acceptable. 10 and 11 hours of driving is not acceptable. 8 hour shifts are acceptable, with overtime for ALL work performed after that. No more free labor. Then we could get a fairly normalized sleep schedule, live better and longer, have fewer health problems (diabetes, heart conditions, etc.) and YOU the public would benefit from much safer roads.

Did I mention the following rule changes that are crucial to understanding this dilemma?

The DOT no longer allows drivers to stop and take breaks - like for a nap. Once that 14 hour clock starts, there is no pause, no time-out. Get your work done in that time, or get a ticket. Being tired from having a different circadian rhythm just doesn't cut it in this industry.

And that 10 hour required break in the bunk. That means, you CANNOT leave the truck for any reason during that 10 hours.

Where do showers, meals, bathroom breaks, etc., fit into all of this? Hmm?

The DOT and the ATA (American Trucking Association) need to get out of bed with one another. They're having entirely too much fun. And the public is suffering because of their stiff-necked policies that only benefit the shippers and carriers. The driver gets the shaft every time.

I, too, share the disrupted sleep pattern described by many of you. Generally, I fall asleep without much problem but wake up 3-4 hours later and then sleep fitfully (at best) the rest of the night. It's a good night when I get 6 solid hours. (And when I get a restful 7-8 hours - maybe 3-4 times a year - I feel fabulous) I believe this sleep pattern, which I've endured most of adult life, is having an enormous impact on my life; it's making it difficult for me to focus, think clearly, be productive,etc. And yes I do believe it affects one's health. Most of my colds come on after a protracted period of poor sleep. And though it's difficult to prove, I also believe long term insomnia accelerates the aging process. I do use benedryl now and then, and though it does help one stay asleep and fall back to sleep when one awakens, I am quite groggy in the morning and can't say that I feel much better than a poor night of sleep.

I need more. End of story!

I think it's more about quality of sleep for me. If I get five or six straight hours of good hard deep sleep, I'm great. But I have too many nights of waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning, tossing and turning, then falling back into sleep an hour before my alarm is set to go off. I have summers off, and this pattern persists, but it doesn't matter as much because I can read for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, then go back to sleep until whenever I want to wake up. But during the working school year, it drives me crazy.

I really can't sleep more than 6 hours a day. Generally I wake up, feeling rested after about 4 or 5. I've been like that since childhood. If I get less sleep than usual, I do notice a dramatic hit in my ability to think. However, I've also found that a power nap which brings me back up to 5 hours for the day usually fixes that.

I think it may be a weird genetic thing. My mom and her siblings do the same thing, and her mother rarely slept more than 4 hours.

I'm lucky if I can get 4 hours a night, especially since I recently quit a 25 year pot smoking habit. But, I absolutely have to take a nap between 1 and 3 PM everyday, or I have absolutely no intellectual ability what-so-ever in the afternoon. Given that I have started to have some occasional slight chest pain in the last couple years (I'm 49 years old.) this study scares the living crap out of me. I need at least 30-35 more years before I keel over. I've tried everything: ambien, skelaxin, nyquil, nothing really helps. I am coming back from a slew of sports related injuries and hoping that as I develop a more consistant and challenging exercise routine, that sleep will once again be my friend.

I am on medication, but still count myself lucky if I get 4-5 hours sleep in a WEEK. Will be 52 this month, a bit overweight now, don't know about diabetis, but migraines, depression, all there. I'd like one doctor to be able to honestly tell me why my brain just won't shut off. Ever try to work or go to school when you've had no sleep for 3 and 4 days? Failed gym, no energy! My kingdom for 4 hours a night even! :(