Bro my ass gets in and out of a recliner at minimum 30 times a shift. If I'm not cleaning, eating, running calls, or working out, im reclining the fuck back and closing my eyes.
Yep. I've been known to do that, too. I try to be the good partner and keep my EMT awake, too. Unless his wife has called for the fortieth time that shift. Then, fuck em
I don't. My hypervigiliance/anxiety/ptsd disallows me from sleeping at work unless I'm exhausted. If I try to nap, I'll get super tachy, sweaty, and anxious. It sucks.
That used to happen to me all the time. I would lay on the couch checked my pulse and watching the radio. I had to placebo myself into a “I don’t care” mindset to actually sleep.
Yeah, it still affects me years later, now being in the Army. In the field I sleep in the morning once everyone else has woken up. I stay up every night on guard. I can't help it. I'm in therapy now to try to work on it.
Same. When I try I lay there and stare at the ceiling waiting for the adrenaline drop. I got off of 24s and onto 16s at the beginning of the year and I'm not struggling as much. I've had nightmares all my life (fun childhood) but they were always worse on shift.
We do a 24 on / 48 off "Kelly" schedule so you were never working the same days week to week. I always had to check my watch when I was doing person place time and event with a patient to see if they got it right because time had no meaning. Now I'm MWF 0700-2300. I sleep in my own bed every night. It's incredible.
It was worse during medic class.
(I should probably add I'm Type 1 Bipolar and sleep deprivation often does the bad to my mind-brain.)
I just started therapy last week, finally. I've had some serious mental health shit going on for almost a year now on top of that stuff from when I still did EMS few years ago and I couldn't manage it anymore on my own. I'm not sure if the SI will ever actually go away, but my coping mechanisms were failing and I recognized that I needed help. I'm doing a bit better.
My biggest thing with that is I remind myself:
Everything ends. It's not forever. Hold out for another day another hour another minute. It'll change. You're doing the work now.
48/96 here, FF/P. I try to keep a 2200-0600/2300-0700 sleep schedule whether I'm at work or home. At work, I try to get an afternoon safety nap day 1. If I'm up at all overnight, I'll try to sleep late, and catch another safety nap afternoon day 2. If no nap, go to bed early night 2.
If I'm up night 2 I try to get a nap for 2-3 hours in the morning of my first day off, and then get into the gym and stay hydrated.
Sleep hygiene is a thing, and anyone in the business will benefit from paying attention to it. Lots of techniques (exercise, hydration, getting off my goddam phone, avoiding alcohol etc). I use melatonin and magnesium for help falling and staying asleep.
I also got a CPAP this year, and that's improved my sleep tremendously.
I can't emphasize enough, pay attention to your sleep, sleep hygiene, and overall physical health in this industry. The physical stress of no sleep is INSANE, and you need to pay attention to the effects no sleep has on your physical and mental health!!
We eat dinner at 6 pm. After I help with cleaning I’m in my bed the remainder of the shift if we are in the house.
I’m on a pretty busy urban department and after house chores and rigs are washed I try to grab a afternoon nap at either 10am or right after lunch as well. My still is a pretty busy night runner so no one questions the medics trying to grab a few hours during the day
Whenever possible… During my last assignment (busy) my partner and I would get in around 6am and be napping around 8am. We would do this throughout the day every shift. My new assignment is a little slower so I may or may not take my safety nap. If I’m working anything longer then a 24 I’m napping at some point.
I have once fell asleep in the back of a fire truck going to a working fire in the middle of the night. We were going to a different county with a 40 min eta, so I took my gear off and got some shut eye on the way. (Sorry, I know it’s not an EMS story)
I come in at 6 and do my truck check then try to sleep until first call which is usually around 8.
If we get a midday lull I’ll sleep until the next call. That’s usually noon to two on average.
I lay down to go to bed as early as 10 if possible to try, and fail, at getting 8 hours of sleep between 10-6. I know for damn sure I’ll be up running a call or two overnight though.
I attempt to take a nap during mid shift to keep my battery charged in case I don’t get a chance to sleep the rest of the time I’m working and then usually I try to keep my normal sleep routine that I have off shift and go to sleep around 2200.
Mid morning nap if it’s a 48. Then sleep right after my evening workout but I’m pretty bad about that and tend to stay up late and then regret it because I’m woken up a couple hours later for a call and I wish I had slept earlier so I would’ve had a couple more hours.
On a 24, I just really try to go to bed early.
Between 11 am and 3 pm currently.
Try to go to bed by 11 pm.
One job I worked (with a newborn at home), our least busy time was mornings. I would come in, check my truck off, do my chores, and be asleep by 7:30 am. Would sleep 7:30 - noon.
Personally, usually between 1200-1400 is nap time and then in bed by 2100-0600. After dinner the night is ours. Work 48-4s at a pretty busy urban department that transports. Day two naps are a must if possible.
Try to be in bed by 10-11. Our local “clientele” like to sleep in and stay up late, so we start getting busy around noon and run most of the day/evening
Work in voluntary rural Ems, mostly 12s nightshifts, usually if we are not first in line I go to bed between 11 and 12 and depending on the call volume either sleep until early morning or get a call between 2 and 3 am
10 pm. The other night we all (5 people fire rescue crew) stayed up till midnight and right as I was getting in bed got toned for an assault and I was up for the call and got back at 2 am.
Always worried I might sleep through a call and not hear it go off. But I try napping through the day while the office person is in the building with us
Straight after lunch and around 21-22pm.
If it's my privilige to take care of the unhealthy citizens in the ambulance, I'll try to sleep every chance I get.
Sleep when you can, where you can. I’m on a 48/96 schedule and my call volume is WAAAAAY less than it used to be at previous departments but I still sleep when I can and where I can. No telling if I will get sleep the first night of my shift, and no telling if I get my union mandated 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep moving forward from there.
I typically get to bed between 2200 and 0200 depending on the day seems to be how my psa lets me sleep. I usually try to nap when I get in as well if I’m able, I’ve tried napping between calls but I’d rather try and be productive past like 0900. I got my switch, a lil acoustic guitar, a kindle, probably some online CEUs too. Not sure what I’ll do if I ever grab a reverse 24
I just ended doing 24s for 6 months and pretty much if I wasn't cleaning, eating, or shooting the shit with my partner or other crew in our quarters, I was going to bed. You never know when you might be lucky to get an hour nap in the afternoon, can make nighttime a whole lot more bearable
ASAP after dinner
^this is the answer
This is the way
Bro my ass gets in and out of a recliner at minimum 30 times a shift. If I'm not cleaning, eating, running calls, or working out, im reclining the fuck back and closing my eyes.
This is the way.
One airpod in, pager clipped to my hat. Peak EMS
Eat till you're tired, sleep till you're hungry;)
This guy fucking ems's
Whenever I can.
Particularly the days when you get run hard, sleep whenever, wherever, and however.
Yup. In the seat on the way back if you have to.
On the way back? Shit, I'll snooze ridding shotgun on the way to a call.
Yep. I've been known to do that, too. I try to be the good partner and keep my EMT awake, too. Unless his wife has called for the fortieth time that shift. Then, fuck em
After my station duties are complete in between calls. I love me a good nap nap
About 2-3 times a day, can't ever be too well rested for that 2 am transfer.
Especially cuz those 2am ones are always either “why does this need to go now” or “holy shit why is this going by ground”
Oh my god are you me?
Exactly. Those 2 am transfers 180 miles one way are a bitch.
And you have to go pick them up in the next town over an hour in the opposite direction from where they're going.
I don't. My hypervigiliance/anxiety/ptsd disallows me from sleeping at work unless I'm exhausted. If I try to nap, I'll get super tachy, sweaty, and anxious. It sucks.
Seek treatment my friend. That’s not ok and you don’t have to bear that weight.
Thank you for your concern. I'm finally in a place where I care about myself enough to get help, and I'm in therapy now.
Agreed. I get nightmares and anxiety so I am usually afraid to sleep.
Read romance novels before bed,also look up lucid dreaming. I spent most of my childhood having night terrors. You can get better!
Lucid dreams are absolutely wild.
That used to happen to me all the time. I would lay on the couch checked my pulse and watching the radio. I had to placebo myself into a “I don’t care” mindset to actually sleep.
Yeah, it still affects me years later, now being in the Army. In the field I sleep in the morning once everyone else has woken up. I stay up every night on guard. I can't help it. I'm in therapy now to try to work on it.
There’s treatment for this. You don’t have to live like this
I'm in therapy now, and we'll go from there. Thank you for your concern. I'm finally in a place in life where I care enough about myself to get help.
Same. When I try I lay there and stare at the ceiling waiting for the adrenaline drop. I got off of 24s and onto 16s at the beginning of the year and I'm not struggling as much. I've had nightmares all my life (fun childhood) but they were always worse on shift. We do a 24 on / 48 off "Kelly" schedule so you were never working the same days week to week. I always had to check my watch when I was doing person place time and event with a patient to see if they got it right because time had no meaning. Now I'm MWF 0700-2300. I sleep in my own bed every night. It's incredible. It was worse during medic class. (I should probably add I'm Type 1 Bipolar and sleep deprivation often does the bad to my mind-brain.)
I hope you're getting help for it. I spent too Ling not getting help.
5 years in therapy, 1.5 on the right mix of meds. I'm so much better than I was.
I'm proud of you, babe. You're doing good.
I am too. Thank you. And I'm proud of you too. (I'm assuming you also got help based on your comment😊)
I just started therapy last week, finally. I've had some serious mental health shit going on for almost a year now on top of that stuff from when I still did EMS few years ago and I couldn't manage it anymore on my own. I'm not sure if the SI will ever actually go away, but my coping mechanisms were failing and I recognized that I needed help. I'm doing a bit better.
My biggest thing with that is I remind myself: Everything ends. It's not forever. Hold out for another day another hour another minute. It'll change. You're doing the work now.
Literally anytime I feel like and also when everyone else goes to bed
48/96 here, FF/P. I try to keep a 2200-0600/2300-0700 sleep schedule whether I'm at work or home. At work, I try to get an afternoon safety nap day 1. If I'm up at all overnight, I'll try to sleep late, and catch another safety nap afternoon day 2. If no nap, go to bed early night 2. If I'm up night 2 I try to get a nap for 2-3 hours in the morning of my first day off, and then get into the gym and stay hydrated. Sleep hygiene is a thing, and anyone in the business will benefit from paying attention to it. Lots of techniques (exercise, hydration, getting off my goddam phone, avoiding alcohol etc). I use melatonin and magnesium for help falling and staying asleep. I also got a CPAP this year, and that's improved my sleep tremendously. I can't emphasize enough, pay attention to your sleep, sleep hygiene, and overall physical health in this industry. The physical stress of no sleep is INSANE, and you need to pay attention to the effects no sleep has on your physical and mental health!!
Bed before 10 up again
We eat dinner at 6 pm. After I help with cleaning I’m in my bed the remainder of the shift if we are in the house. I’m on a pretty busy urban department and after house chores and rigs are washed I try to grab a afternoon nap at either 10am or right after lunch as well. My still is a pretty busy night runner so no one questions the medics trying to grab a few hours during the day
Whenever possible… During my last assignment (busy) my partner and I would get in around 6am and be napping around 8am. We would do this throughout the day every shift. My new assignment is a little slower so I may or may not take my safety nap. If I’m working anything longer then a 24 I’m napping at some point. I have once fell asleep in the back of a fire truck going to a working fire in the middle of the night. We were going to a different county with a 40 min eta, so I took my gear off and got some shut eye on the way. (Sorry, I know it’s not an EMS story)
I come in at 6 and do my truck check then try to sleep until first call which is usually around 8. If we get a midday lull I’ll sleep until the next call. That’s usually noon to two on average. I lay down to go to bed as early as 10 if possible to try, and fail, at getting 8 hours of sleep between 10-6. I know for damn sure I’ll be up running a call or two overnight though.
When the station ghosts flicker the lights, it’s bed time.
I attempt to take a nap during mid shift to keep my battery charged in case I don’t get a chance to sleep the rest of the time I’m working and then usually I try to keep my normal sleep routine that I have off shift and go to sleep around 2200.
Mid morning nap if it’s a 48. Then sleep right after my evening workout but I’m pretty bad about that and tend to stay up late and then regret it because I’m woken up a couple hours later for a call and I wish I had slept earlier so I would’ve had a couple more hours. On a 24, I just really try to go to bed early.
Between 11 am and 3 pm currently. Try to go to bed by 11 pm. One job I worked (with a newborn at home), our least busy time was mornings. I would come in, check my truck off, do my chores, and be asleep by 7:30 am. Would sleep 7:30 - noon.
Personally, usually between 1200-1400 is nap time and then in bed by 2100-0600. After dinner the night is ours. Work 48-4s at a pretty busy urban department that transports. Day two naps are a must if possible.
Usually about 1 am. I apparently like to gamble.
Try to be in bed by 10-11. Our local “clientele” like to sleep in and stay up late, so we start getting busy around noon and run most of the day/evening
Immediately. Straight from rig check to nap time.
Whenever possible
My regular time when off shift. Usually about 2300.
Almost never during shifts. Only if I'm totally exhausted.
Work in voluntary rural Ems, mostly 12s nightshifts, usually if we are not first in line I go to bed between 11 and 12 and depending on the call volume either sleep until early morning or get a call between 2 and 3 am
10 pm. The other night we all (5 people fire rescue crew) stayed up till midnight and right as I was getting in bed got toned for an assault and I was up for the call and got back at 2 am.
We’re so busy it’s not even falling asleep. I just pass out during our requested 1 hour of rehab time
Sorry... 3 other trucks in your district are already on rehab... We'll put you on the list tho! *Never puts you on the list*
Nap time starts at 10pm.
The same as I take a piss, and chance I get.....
I try to get to bed by 2200 whenever possible.
Always worried I might sleep through a call and not hear it go off. But I try napping through the day while the office person is in the building with us
nap in mid morning or early afternoon, bedtime 2200ish and pray we only get woken up once
I try sometime during the day,I'm a magnet for nightshift calls!
You guys get sleep?
Straight after lunch and around 21-22pm. If it's my privilige to take care of the unhealthy citizens in the ambulance, I'll try to sleep every chance I get.
Sleep makes the calls come. I'll sleep when I'm dead...tired after my 24
all of the times , all of them
Sleep when you can, where you can. I’m on a 48/96 schedule and my call volume is WAAAAAY less than it used to be at previous departments but I still sleep when I can and where I can. No telling if I will get sleep the first night of my shift, and no telling if I get my union mandated 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep moving forward from there.
As soon as possible after dinner around 7pm I go in my bunk and shut out the world
Any time we're not doing chores, charts, or calls.
My partner would call me a cat because I would always be sleeping on shift if I wasn’t running a call or writing a chart
My service is one that does E calls and does long distance transfers. I usually am in bed by our cut-off time for a long distance transfer.
I typically get to bed between 2200 and 0200 depending on the day seems to be how my psa lets me sleep. I usually try to nap when I get in as well if I’m able, I’ve tried napping between calls but I’d rather try and be productive past like 0900. I got my switch, a lil acoustic guitar, a kindle, probably some online CEUs too. Not sure what I’ll do if I ever grab a reverse 24
As much as possible. I’m a POS working long shifts like that. I basically live in my bunk if I’m at station.
I usually try to get a nap around noontime and then go to lay in bed around 8 if I’m at the station.
If I’m not on call or doing something productive, I’m on the couch sawing logs.
Sleep when the baby sleeps.
Often
I just ended doing 24s for 6 months and pretty much if I wasn't cleaning, eating, or shooting the shit with my partner or other crew in our quarters, I was going to bed. You never know when you might be lucky to get an hour nap in the afternoon, can make nighttime a whole lot more bearable
Any time I can sleep - I sleep.
😂 “sleep” is correct
I usually get a nap after lunch until I get a call, then stay up till about 10
I nap during the day as most of my nights on a 24 are full of macabre and mayhem