A Work Schedule to Assist With My Insomnia

Insomnia is ridiculous, it has no manners and no respect for things like working hours and schedules that need to be kept to. Over the years there has been no reprieve from working hours, the usual 8 am to 5 pm was waiting no matter how little sleep I got or how rough my night was. There are not many opportunities to work flexible hours where I live so it is hard to find anything that is not the usual, so to speak.

Roughly a year ago, I made some changes and was presented with an opportunity to work more flexible hours. Needless to say, I grabbed it with both arms wide open and welcomed the change. This has had a positive impact on my life.

Small unexpected changes

Now, please know that I never made these changes with my sleep in mind. I do not think that I ever gave it much thought until after the fact, hindsight and all that. But it has the makings of improving my sleep ever so slightly.

When you experience insomnia, even the slightest improvement can make a difference to your daily life. I think if I could get one hour extra sleep a night I would go to some decent lengths to ensure that I got it. It is important to remember that we never know what small changes can bring to our lives.

Trouble falling asleep

I think one of greatest struggles is falling asleep when it is time to go to bed. I also wake often and have a bad quality of sleep. However, falling asleep remains one of my greatest challenges.

No matter how exhausted and tired I am, this would mean that I would sometimes only fall asleep at 4 am, and need to get up at work by 7am. This is so damaging, and the cycle just repeats which means by that night I am unable to fall asleep despite being utterly shattered.

Flexi hours to the rescue

Having flexible hours brought a very healthy change to my life, in particular in school holidays. I am able to work while I am awake until whatever hour. The next morning I am able to lie in, or even just work a little later once I have dropped the kids at school.

I sometimes crawl right back into bed and catch a nap before I need to start work. At worst, I am able to rest and only start working later. This means that I am not required  to clock in very early. Even if I get an afternoon nap in and work after - it makes a huge improvement to my day.

Stress less

These changes have certainly brought my stress levels down, being able to have a nap when I am able to and then just work later is one huge asset. There is no stress on my time and I do not have to fit everything in to the given 9 hours.

Less stress is a game changer for most things, and it has been the same for my insomnia. My anxiety of needing to be up at a certain time, when I go sleep has certainly reduced greatly. Overall, this just makes for a happier and easier going version of myself.

If there are anything small things that you can change to make your life a little easier, take a chance. You never know what added benefits come with it. If I knew then what I know now, I would take more things into consideration and made the changes a lot sooner.

What tips or flexibility have you utilized to make your insomnia and work/school schedule more manageable? Share in this forum, here.