stevie667

I've just started a new job which involves me getting up at 5.30 am and cycling about 5 miles to work everymorning, which i've been dutifully doing for just over a month now. The work itself is in a warehouse, and is very physically and mentally demanding.

Now, as someone who is inherently very lazy and not a morning person, i'm really not getting that much sleep each night, and cycling back and forth at some ungodly hour is really taking it's toll on my energy levels.

My problem is that i've started, as the title suggests, to see 'things'.

Over the past two weeks, i've had a string of very disturbing full blown hullucinations, ranging from seeing faces in the walls, to extreme time dilation, and one instance of exchanging hellos with someone who never existed. I've also been seeing little things out of the corner of my eyes more regulary (you know the ones, where you think you see someone, turn, and think 'oh, i can see how i would have though that was xxx'), along with hearing various things going on.

This is actually really starting to freak me out, and i'm getting increasingly frustrated as time goes by not knowing if what i'm seeing or hearing is really there.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has had any similar experiences with seeing things due to tiredness, and if the problem will fade, as i hope, when i catch up on my sleep debts.

Dilbert1234567

Your brain needs REM (rapid eye movement) sleep (ie dreaming) if you don’t get enough of it for extended periods of time, your brain will dream during the day, causing hallucinations.

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Baron Opal

Once you settle into your schedule the hallucinations will stop. You have to make time during the day for a full night's sleep however. This isn't something that you can fix by catching-up on the weekends. You must make time to go to sleep. If there is not enough time between riding your bike home and getting ready for the next day, you may need to start looking for a new job.

SiN

no, but for me at least, I can sort of fix it by *not* catching up on the weekends.

weeknights i'm in bed btwn midnite-1, and awake @ 5:30, vertical by 6.
weekends I allow myself the luxury of 7-8 hours, but no more.

point is, regularity. it's been over a month, and I can say that my body has gotten used to it.
sure I still have tiredness ... but there has been a notiseable 'i'm adjusted to it' feeling.

oh, and yes, sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations.
in the past, i'd a few occasions of several days without sleep.
altered my perceptions, indeed.

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stevie667

There is enough time between me getting home and going to sleep, it's just i'm not used to getting up so early in the morning, my body hasn't gotten used to the different sleep pattern. Also, the option of leaving my job isn't an option at the moment due to, as with all things in life, finances.

I've always been an advocate of catching up on my sleep debt at the weekend, but i'll certainly give SiN's suggestion a try.

Baron Opal

Well, if your body clock isn't shifting, remember to have a bright a light on when you need to be awake and make your bedroom as dark as you can when you sleep. Some melatonin about a half hour before you go to sleep may help shift your clock as well.