Customer Reviews

Sleep Secrets for Shiftworkers & People with Off-beat Schedules

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recommend this book to all my sleep-deprived customers. The author's great advantage is that he has been there and done that. The book not only contains general information on sleep, sleeping pills and health but also insider tips on creating the ideal bedroom and maintaining family life. A practical, easy-to-read guide.

I've worked 11pm-7am for nine years, and can say this is a solid book on the effects of working night shift, but has some downright wacky issues.

The book talks about the dangers of being sleepy while you drive, and the importance of keeping your social and family lives intact - not to sacrifice them to your shift job. These are all very important issues to shift workers issues. The one omission that really bugged me was the difficulty in getting medical appointments when you work those shifts.

Now the odd stuff:

The book offers a form you can hand out to your neighbors expalining the hours you sleep and asking them to be quiet then. This seems tacky beyond tacky. The book NEVER brings up to possibility of wearing ear plugs while you sleep.

The book talks of the dangers of sleeping pills but only talks about perscription sleeping pills. There are over the counter sleeping pills that use diphenhydramine (such as Sominex and its store brand equivalents) which are non-addictive.

The title of this review refers to my constant nagging at a work colleague who remains dear to me, yet is slowly dying on night shift. If this book isn't enough insight into the negative effects of this kind of work, then do some more research. The book itself is excellent in that it gives you the tools to manage that which is essentially a habit akin to smoking. If you can't stop then it may kill you - make no mistake. At best it will just take some years off your life.

In any case an excellent book, but my advice is to get off nights and buy it for someone who can't.