Extreme brain fog/drowsiness after first trip help?!
I had my first rotation as a flight attendant this weekend. Very very early reports all 3 days (3-4am) and long long days. Towards the end of the second day I was feeling DIZZILY tired. Like literally couldn’t walk straight. The third day I was loopy, and making simple mistakes but pushing through the best I could.
That day started at 3am for me and I didn’t go to sleep for various reasons until about 2am the next day. These were long days with 3-4 legs each.
When I woke up on the fourth day. (My off day) after getting about 8 hours of sleep. I felt insanely drowsy. For the ENTIRE day. I’ve been jet lagged before from international personal trips, and it felt exactly like jet lag. Like my body was still trying to sleep as I was going about my day. Just an intense brain fog and drowsiness. All day it was feeling like I had just woken up.
The 6th day, after 10 hours of sleep, I still feel the same exact way. Just so insanely drowsy. I’ve ofc vowed that I’ll never have a schedule like that again, but it being my first trip I didn’t realize how rough it would be until I actually did it.
Now I still have that jet lagged feeling and I’m frustrated. I just want to feel awake and alert again. I go back to work in two days and I can’t imagine feeling this way on the job and it just getting worse.
What should I do?? Any tips? Is this normal just starting out? When will it go away or any steps to prevent? How can I feel awake and alert again?
As some context I was drinking water throughout the day, eating at least 2 full meals, getting about 6 hours of sleep.