Does anyone have to take a short 15 min nap in the car before driving home? I have to do it every day because I feel so drowsy after work. I want to know if other people have the same problem as me. I get good night sleep before work day. However, I just don't have the energy at the end of day to drive home. I got into fender bender accidents a few times because I didnt' take a short nap. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

How much coffee/caffinated drinks do you drink during day? If so, when do you stop drinking them? Sometimes if I quit drinking coffee, I get sleepy.

You might "think" you are getting a good night's sleep when you are really not. With a good night's sleep you should be able to remain alert. Go get checked for sleep apnea. They might even think you need a sleep study. Will they do that for you in Canada?

Otherwise if you can't get your 15 min nap, get caffiene: A cup of joe is cheaper than an insurance deductible for a fender bender.

An energy bar 30 minutes before you leave might work for you.

I will check with my doctor about sleep apnea. I didn't realized about it. I always feel sleepy regardless how well I slept previous night. Thanks for the tip Simon.

"What's your occupation?"

That is a good question. In the bad old days (before retirement) I had a job that I really enjoyed, I was more "up" at the end of my shift than the start. Even after a hard graveyard shift I never had a bit of trouble with the half hour drive I had...

There are some medical ailments that cause sleepiness, here is a like to only one...http://www.sleepydust.net/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-causes.html

But I think that I would look at my job itself...

I work in IT support. shift work. It screw up my body clock. I don't know if I am alive at the end of shift. I often feel detach from my body like a ghost. I need change to different company.

Boy do I know that feelling. I used to change shifts every month, took me two weeks just to learn when to sleep, then it was change time again. But it could be worse. When I was in the Air Farce we used to work five different shifts in five days. All double backs, some with less than eight hours between shifts. But I was young and bulletproof then...sleep, who needed sleep???

Explore all your options. There are a number of things that could be causing it. Rule out a sleep disorder though! Remember, in the long run, sleep disorders can shorten your life. When I had sleep apnea I was always tired. When they did sleep studies, they found that I was "REM starved." It normally takes, as I recall, a couple of hours for REM sleep to occur, but I would jump into it within 15 minutes of going to sleep. Sleep apnea would wake me up and I would not remember it, then the sleep cycle would have to start over again, screwing it all up.

I suffered from sleep apnea for several years and it triggered nocturnal seizures sometimes from lack of oxygen to the brain. Of course I didn't think my brain ran on much of anything anyway;). CPAP and me didn't get along. I finally opted for tonsil removal, which did the trick. My main problem now is meds I take keeping me awake at night and sometimes I have to take a prescription sleep aid.

You might not like this answer, but if you feel detached, "like a ghost", and your circadians are shot, you might actually be clinically depressed.

That does NOT mean you are crazy. It means that your brain chemistry is out of wack. You probably hate your job (I loath tech support gigs), and between the stress, isolation, and lack of sleep (so REM state deprivation and apnea do tie into this), your brain might not be working properly. And if you smoke (don't remember if you do) and haven't had nicotine for 8 hours, you're in withdrawl anyway.

I'm not saying that you are depressed; I'm not saying you aren't. But I think when you talk to a doc about things like how you are sleeping, it's worth bringing up. And becuase true depression is a chemical imbalance, it's a physical disorder, not a purely mental one, so you should be covered. It could also be your diet, or any of a dozen things.

Also, learn to laugh about the customers and the job- if I hadn't, I'd be in prison or the wacko ward with a straight jacket. It's dated, but the "sysop from hell" is worth a laugh. Dilbert. If you have coworkers, start a game about the worst call of the shift or week. Read web comics that are acutally funny. Make stick figures out of coffee stirers and hang them off your cube walls with dental floss nooses or drown them in soda or crush them under runaway donuts. Laughing actually does good things with your brain chemistry, so long is it isn't evil scientist about to get revenge on the world laughter. So does chocolate. And, IMHO, orange juice.