If you’re struggling to get a good night’s sleep when you work shift work, then it’s highly possible that light – or more specifically too much of it, is a major contributing factor.

Of course it’s a fairly well-known fact that in order for you to sleep better, your bedroom needs to be as dark as physically possible.

In fact even the light from your alarm clock or strong moonlight can affect your ability to fall and stay asleep.

So what can you do to help improve your sleep and thereby reduce your shift work fatigue?

1. Eliminate light from your bedroom – completely. This may include installing blinds, shutters or curtains, but just make sure that they are wide enough to cover gaps around the windows to eliminate any light from sneaking in.

2. Use eye masks or eye shades. Shop around and find ones that black out the light completely and are comfortable to wear. Eye masks that are not too bulky and are made from natural fibres are best as they are less likely to cause irritation whilst you are sleeping.

3. Turn off your light when you go to bed. Might sound silly, but many people actually fall asleep with the light turned on, only to wake up a few hours later feeling groggy and disorientated.

So if you work shift work, getting enough sleep is usually one of the hardest things to overcome. But if you begin to apply the above steps into your bedroom routine, you will start to notice a dramatic difference in your quality and quantity of sleep.

Quite simply, more sleep you acquire – the more energy for you.

If you’re a shift worker who has trouble sleeping then there could be a myriad of reasons why this is the case, but today I’d like to discuss something that one of my subscribers recommended.

Now I don’t ordinarily ‘name names’ (so-to-speak), but I will tell you that ‘Eric’ replied to my one my ‘Healthy Shift Worker’ email tips, and shared with me what he does to help reduce his stress and get a good night’s sleep.

So, what was Eric’s recommendation?

To close the door to your bedroom and take a few deep breathes and think about all of the things that your hard work goes toward.

For example time with the family, vacations, hobbies, and anything else that makes you smile and enjoy life, because not only will this help you fall asleep – but it will help you to fall asleep on a good note.

Sometimes when we go to bed at night (or day) – depending on your shift schedule, it can be VERY HARD to get to sleep because our brains are working overtime. They can be buzzing with all of the things that happened at work that day, making it near impossible to fall asleep.

So I would like to ask each and every one of you who is reading this article right now, to take a leaf out of Eric’s book and be grateful and thankful for your shift working job.

Because many times we question ourselves why we get up at these ridiculous times of day and go into work to a job that we may not necessarily overly enjoy.

So just take inventory and remember your ‘WHY’.

Remind yourself ‘why’ you go into work each day and why you work so hard in your shift working job, because when you do – your whole mindset and attitude towards work can change for the better.

Not to mention it also helps you to get a good night’s sleep Thank’s for sharing Eric!