Calling All Radio Sleep Scientists

[wkrpfm]

Looking from some advice, specifically for mornings, but feel free to chime in for other shifts. It's been a year since starting mornings down in Florida. In the entire year, I still find myself struggling with the sleep thing. Getting up at 4am. Tried the going to bed at 8pm thing. Interferes with prime-time TV to talk about the next day. Then went thru the napping at 1pm-3p phase. That lasted for about 2 weeks. Then I got some nifty advice from our night guy at our Rock station that says "just stay up all night and don't go to bed, that's what I do when I fill in during mornings"...ya, would have worked if I was 22 again. You can be anonymous, or if you're friends with morning person, what have they said works for them? I know, everyone's time clock is different, but one would think I would have picked up some routine that works...I've come up with nothing... Ambien isn't an option seeing I need to wake people up and would most likely sleep until 9 after using that. Just a different topic to throw into the radio talk mix.

 

[12 In a Row]

Your sleeping in till 4 am, lucky you!!!

30+ years of morning drive.

If you're doing your job well, you will be a walking zombie most of your life.
A few tips that worked for me:

Take a nap whenever and wherever you can.
Cherry pick just a few shows in a week that are "must watch" TV. Just the water cooler stuff. American Idol, maybe Lost.
Frankly, most of your morning listeners don't care what you watched last night.

Be fun, be the guy or gal your listeners would like to invite over for dinner, don't get a big head, and for god sake, take a nap! ;D

 

[wkrpfm]

haha...thank you fellow zombiewan.

 

[ZRXOA 5248]

Well early mornings do ruin the TV thing, not to mention your social life

Try doing the 4:30 am thing pushing 50... it's fun

In my day gig I have to be at work and fully functional for 6 AM, commuting from southern NH to just outside of Boston means out of the house at 5 AM....

I head up to bed at 9, and get up at 4:30. Even on the weekends I'm in bed early (10 ish) but usually get to sleep a little past 6, or till the dogs realize I'm still home then decide it's time for me to take them out for a run.

The only thing that worked for me was getting in a routine where I went to bed at the same time, and up at about the same time ( my work assignments change every 3 months so I try to get the same start time, even if my end time changes)

The great thing about being a guy is there is one activity that when performed with a spouse or other loved one will make us fall asleep within minutes of finishing.


I remember the good old days of closing JJ Foleys and still making it to work for 5 AM !

 

[murcuryvapor]

Tivo.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

How well I understand! I have done hours all over the map
in my life - including the absolute worst shift possible: 9pm to 5 am!
Overnight for 5 years. I never got used to it. EVER! I know some people
who actually prefer to work nights: quiet, peaceful, work on independent projects, no
boss looking over your shoulder...

My advice: try to get to bed 4-5 hours after you get off work. (you're
probably too hyper to sleep before then...) Make yourself get up by 9pm -
no matter what. No caffeine after you get to work. Make your work day be at
the end of your daily awake cycle. This way you can still have something of a life
when other people are actually awake for part of it. Best of luck!

 

[SERy694]

I've done smaller-station mornings for ~20yrs. Some things that have worked for me:
* DON'T take a long afternoon nap. Screws up sleep cycle. 20min power nap ok.
* Stop the caffeine-anything, and the chocolate, before dinnertime. Gave up the coffee okay, but they'll put me in the ground in a chocolate casket
* Agree with others who said same bedtime each night. That's why God created VCRs, DVRs, etc.
* Don't over-sleep on weekends. That'll also screw up your bod. I'm up at 0330 weekdays....0600 on weekends, with power naps as needed.
* Get some afternoon exercise...it'll help you sleep better My 'health club' is 2 acres of property and a "honey, do" list the size of the NY Times. Take a walk.
* Either eat dinner early or if that's not possible, eat light. You won't sleep on a full stomach. Make lunch the big meal of your day.
Hope these thoughts help.

 

[Middy Weston]

I did morning drive for about 12 years...the first 10 I was really, really unhealthy. After dropping about 75 pounds through better diet and daily exercise, mornings---along with everything else---got a lot, lot easier.

So try to eat well and definitely do some exercising..that 100 lb weight on your brain when you wake up will drop to about 30 lbs ;D It will absolutely help.

Unless you're just wired to be up and at 'em that time of day (or go to bed the same time as eight-year olds), it never becomes easy or natural. You never got used to it, you just learn to accept it.

Best of luck!!

 

[dreamlady]

Hi! My name is Lauri Loewenberg and I am a sleep and dream expert. There is a really cool device you should try called The Sleep Tracker. It's a watch you wear at night and it measures your bio-rhythms. You set a 20 or 30 minute window of time for it to wake you. Say, if you need to be up at 4 then you would set the window for 3:45 - 4:05. It will then wake you up - anywhere within that window - when you reach the wakeful part of sleep, which is usually right after REM.

When you are awakened within that time you wake up refreshed rather than groggy. If your regular alarm wakes you while in deep Delta sleep it's hard to get up.

I like the Sleep Tracker because it also helps dream recall, since it wakes you right after the REM cycle. I used it on my TV show "In Your Wildest Dreams" which aired on Discovery Health in March. It absolutely works. I highly recommend then for morning show hosts.

Also, make sure you get atleast 8 hours of sleep within a 24 hour time-span. It's fine if the sleep is done in two shifts. By nature humans are bi-somniacs, meaning we are designed to sleep in two shifts.

I hope this helps!

 

[BRNout]

Oh how I feel your pain!! I once had the morning drive shift on a radio network....based in Colorado! That meant that my first bit was at 3:15 am local time. Absolutely brutal.

To help, I lived about 3/4 mile from work and slept as long as possible (usually until 2:15 or so). The toughest part was the weekend because I'd slip back in to "normal" sleep patterns by taking a nap after my truncated Saturday shift (from 8:30 am to 11 or so). So, Monday mornings were tough. By Thursday, I'd be falling asleep around 8 and trying to get 6 hours of sleep. Napping during the day was difficult, though sometimes necessary.

Anyhow, being a night person, I never got used to it. In the end, that gig only lasted a little over a year - so my life got back to normal soon thereafter! Perhaps if you're a "morning" person, it would be easier for you. And, getting up at 4 or so isn't quite as bad. My Dad has done that (voluntarily) for years! Once or twice, I got a break and didn't have to come in until 6 am...and that was like a vacation day.

In the end, you need to either adapt your lifestyle to the shift or you won't last. Not too helpful, I know....but that's the reality of the situation. Going to bed early will allow for much more effective sleep than napping - in my opinion. So, Tivo your favorite shows and go to bed at 8. That's my advice. Best of luck!!!

 

[jhouston]

12 in a row’s advice is ABSOLUTELY correct. I, too, feel your pain. Yeah, the “coupla’ hours sleep and I’m fine” ended in my mid 20’s, lol! Managed a bar til 2..up at 5, on the air at 6…yeah. Now at 50, I look forward to a nap as soon as the alarm goes off! Hope this helps:
Standard broadcast day: (central time)
Alarm goes off at 0300. Start coffee maker 0301. Station by 445. On air 530. Prod, after show, til 12. Home around 1. Fire up home computer and cut spots/bits till nodding off….mouse in hand.. around 3. Up when the dogs, cell phone, neighborhood kids, guy with no muffler, or wife gets home and makes enough noise to bring me out of my sleep deprived coma. ..around 5 usually. Start preppin’ tomorrows show 8p til about 845. Bed by 1015 (9 on Sundays). Weekends when I’m not pulling a shift, oh yeah, I’m oblivious to everything till 7 or 8a. Hell, that 4 hours is an extra entire nite’s sleep! Nap whenever you can. The guy behind you at the stop light will let you know when the light’s green. BTW-It’s far more difficult to nod off on a Harley than in a comfy car. But, trust me, it CAN be done!

 

[Neanderpaul]

Without going through all the responses, I did what I'm sure a lot of others have already said.

I took two "naps."

Would get up at 4:30 AM on the air at 6, back home and in bed by 1PM, sleep 'til 5 when my wife got home, get up, spend time together, go back to bed around 10:30. Repeat.

Now...that was at a Classic Rock/Hits station where there wasn't a whole lot of demand for bits & off air production. So, you'd have to plan for an extra hour or two of prep/prod time on either end. Or, cut down on family time.

But it gets easier....'cept in the winter. It sucks to be up that early no matter how much sleep you get.

 

[Neanderpaul]

How well I understand! I have done hours all over the map
in my life - including the absolute worst shift possible: 9pm to 5 am!

UGH!....you just reopened that wound. WHDH...9p-5a. Board op-ing satellite programming. Nothing says fun like erectile dysfunction, Dr. Dean, and Gold Bond Medicated Powder spots!

I would bring my Nintendo in and play Tecmo Bowl all night.

Sometimes watch the softcore porn that the Channel 7 guys would dial up on the house systems. Or, laugh at the raw network feeds from the floods in Missouri! Nothing is funnier than watching anchors setting up for a live shot. The "B roll" outtakes are priceless. If anyone actually knew...

Didn't make it a fun shift though. Not fun at all.

 

[wkrpfm]

it's so fun to read these responses..because I guess I was the only one that had issues and just hadn't gotten it down yet...great response houston...didn't realize why people were always beeping behind me..haha..luckily since leaving the Weston area, I don't have to get up early for crappy weather...and i've yet to find a full-serve gas station down here in FLA!

 

[bigbenny955]

I've done morning radio for the better part of 15 years, and I've always done the "bi-somniac" thing of sleeping in 2 shifts to get my 8 hours a day in. I usually nod off during Leno's monologue (no pun intended). Then I set my alarms on my cell to go off in 10 min. increments starting around 4:20. That gives me 20 minutes to actually get up. It's only 10 minutes for me to get to work, so this helps a lot. On air at 6, home by Noon most days. Eat a big lunch, then take my second "sleep time" from usually 1 to 4pm. Wake up, I got my 8 hours, and just in time for the evening news, shows, etc. Sometimes, if I oversleep during the afternoon, I'll take a couple of Benadryl around 9p to help me get back to a time I know that I will be asleep as Leno is in the middle of "Headlines" or "Jaywalk All-Stars" or whatever...good luck!

 

[AllForADeuce]

Looking from some advice, specifically for mornings, but feel free to chime in for other shifts. It's been a year since starting mornings down in Florida. In the entire year, I still find myself struggling with the sleep thing. Getting up at 4am. Tried the going to bed at 8pm thing. Interferes with prime-time TV to talk about the next day. Then went thru the napping at 1pm-3p phase. That lasted for about 2 weeks. Then I got some nifty advice from our night guy at our Rock station that says "just stay up all night and don't go to bed, that's what I do when I fill in during mornings"...ya, would have worked if I was 22 again. You can be anonymous, or if you're friends with morning person, what have they said works for them? I know, everyone's time clock is different, but one would think I would have picked up some routine that works...I've come up with nothing... Ambien isn't an option seeing I need to wake people up and would most likely sleep until 9 after using that. Just a different topic to throw into the radio talk mix.

I work at 4am (not in radio) and since starting this shift, I haven't seen a blip of primetime TV. I used to work 1230am-830am and couldn't sleep a wink because even with my curtains down the sunlight bothered me to no end. Granted getting up at 4 or working at 4 we are a select few and we're lost when the morning DJ talks about "Lost" (pun intended) but hearing a DJ talk about it at 6am kills us because it's usually sitting on our Tivo! haha! I listen to XM and O&A aren't always on top of show reviews the next day because they are up at 3am. Conversly, I do like their "every-few-days" show updates because (like us) it gives people like us time to catch up on Tivo'd shows. Just my two cents on what I hear on the radio since I live similar hours as you!

 

[ruger22com]

Back in the 80's we had something to help us work at the disco til 2am to make extra bucks, then get up at 4:30am to do our 6-10 morning gig.....it was called cocaine!

But to be honest, today your best bet is just to accept the fact that you are going to have to hit the sack around 8pm....and buy a tivo for the tv shows and news!

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Back in the 80's we had something to help us work at the disco til 2am to make extra bucks, then get up at 4:30am to do our 6-10 morning gig.....it was called cocaine!

As I remember hearing years ago, that stuff wasn't cheap. Did you actually end up making "extra bucks" in the long run with that method?