[Vulture]

I work nights and two out of three weekends. So normally i go to matches on the weekend after work.
This weekend i worked a 16 hour day on Thurday went home and got 4 hours of sleep and then worked 8 more hours. Then went to the match. I didn't feel sleepy, but i did feel a little slow. I figured i would perk up after the match started, but unfourtuneatly i didn't. Forgot where to reload, which targets i shot and mike city. After my last stage i just quitely packed my bags and went home. Just a plain poor performance. I will not do that again. Had a match on Sunday as well, but just stayed home. Lesson learned: overtime and matches don't go together.

[mwx40x40]

+1 My worst performances have been coming off of third shift. For me it's best to just pass on these weekends.

[Steve J]

There is no cure for sleep deprivation. It can be as bad as being hungover or still under the influence on your reaction time, coordination, clarity of thought, etc. Working nights is tough. Working nights and double shifts is cruel.

[bbbean]

After seriously tanking my first special classifier on the morning after a night interrupted by dog, cat, wife, son, and thunderstorm, I swore that if I didn't get at least 6 hours of good sleep I'd just skip a match. Then I broke my rule last month and shot a special classifier the morning after a sinus infection kept me up half the night. the combination of no sleep, sinus, and cold medicine gave me a couple of single digit percentages, and the worst match I'd shot in a year or more.

Back to my rule - if I don't get a good night's sleep, I'll just stay home and dry fire.

[Dave S]

I agreee with the lack of sleep issue and not doing well, but most time`s I just want to be at the match. I always learn something that will help me later no matter how well I do.

[SIG shooter]

+1; lack of sleep and hangovers don't mix with USPSA matches. I will sometimes work an 8 or 16 hour overnight shift and go shoot a club match in the morning; my performance will usually go to shit. Shooting while hungover gives me the same result if not worse. At least you can address the sleep issue with coffee....

[SIG shooter]

SIG shooter, on Aug 24 2009, 10:36 AM, said:

+1; lack of sleep and hangovers don't mix with USPSA matches. I will sometimes work an 8 or 16 hour overnight shift and go shoot a club match in the morning; my performance will usually go to shit. Shooting while hungover gives me the same result if not worse. At least you can address the sleep issue with coffee....

[bbbean]

SIG shooter, on Aug 24 2009, 03:36 PM, said:

Shooting while hungover gives me the same result if not worse.

What are you, a glutton for punishment? They don't make hearing protection or sunglasses strong enough to get me to a match with a hangover, ESPECIALLY if there are open shooters around!

[SIG shooter]

bbbean, on Aug 24 2009, 10:47 AM, said:

SIG shooter, on Aug 24 2009, 03:36 PM, said:

Shooting while hungover gives me the same result if not worse.

What are you, a glutton for punishment? They don't make hearing protection or sunglasses strong enough to get me to a match with a hangover, ESPECIALLY if there are open shooters around!

"Go hard, or go home", I guess. It's dependent on the level of hangover. With a mild Level I, I'll still go out and shoot at club matches, which are part of my Nationals practice prep. With a Level II or III hangover, forget it.

OTOH, my intake before bigger matches is little to none.

[whatmeworry]

Tried shooting a local club match after working 22 hours. Got to the range and never even dressed out. Realized that my mind was in a fog and drove home. Had to go back to work 3 hours later. I sure don't miss that pager since I've been retired.
CYa,
Pat

[Field]

if work gets in the way of what you want to do on a consistent basis, i would try and get another job where you dont have to work as many hours.

that is one thing i will NOT put up with with a job is having inconsistent or long hours, i am not into my job THAT much, if my job starts causing me problems and making me unhappy all the time i will quit the job and find something else

[JimmyZip]

Field, on Nov 6 2009, 04:19 PM, said:

if work gets in the way of what you want to do on a consistent basis, i would try and get another job where you dont have to work as many hours.

that is one thing i will NOT put up with with a job is having inconsistent or long hours, i am not into my job THAT much, if my job starts causing me problems and making me unhappy all the time i will quit the job and find something else

Some of us have no option especially in this economy. Unemployment doesn't pay the bills for most, and there are not THAT MANY jobs. I do understand where you are coming from in respect to not wanting to stay in a job that offers little in the way of stability concerning hours and planning your personal life though. It's just that many of us don't have the options, and sometimes the money is really good too.

OP,

Yeah sleep is a must. It has been proven in study upon study that not getting enough can cause one to make serious and sometimes deadly mistakes. Considering we are handling firearms, the potentil problems can be disasterous. This isn't paranoia, just facts.

JZ

[John K]

I have found that I shoot better when I am a little bit tired. Not exhausted, but a bit tired. I am just more relaxed and more go with the flow. Puts the monkey mind at ease.
But then i am a little different.

[lugnut]

Shooting under different conditions will only add to your experiences which is good IMO. I'm not saying that everyone should pull an all nighter before their next match but you learn alot about yourself and how focus and mental strength (or lack thereof) can affect you. Of course you always need to stay safe!

[Avezorak]

I dont sleep much the night before a match. If its my own club match im usually lying awake thinking up ways to better my stages then at the range at daylight to set up.

If other matches im just wired then up early because im gonna be driving and hour or two. Guess the new hasnt worn off the sport yet. But I do a little better at other matches, I guess because theres less stress involved?

[kevin c]

I think this applies doubly to matches you travel to.

Here in California, mosying in at around 9AM for a match (where I'm not a CRO or otherwise helping out getting things going) is plenty early enough, with time for breakfast first. A late night before isn't much of a setback.

This year, though, for A-2, I had to start before 7AM, lose another hour to the time difference, sleep on a new bed in a strange place with pre-major match insomnia/jitters to boot. Last year's Nationals in Tulsa had later starts, but another hour lost to another time zone.

It helped a lot to start adjusting the sleep and eating cycles a week before. My wife thought I was going overboard, but it made the transitions easier.

[Revopop]

Avezorak, on Nov 18 2009, 10:27 PM, said:

I dont sleep much the night before a match. If its my own club match im usually lying awake thinking up ways to better my stages then at the range at daylight to set up.

If other matches im just wired then up early because im gonna be driving and hour or two. Guess the new hasnt worn off the sport yet. But I do a little better at other matches, I guess because theres less stress involved?

I agree completely. I rarely get a proper night's sleep before a match, hasn't really been a problem unless there's 6 or more stages which there usually isn't. I find a good breakfast is much more important for my performance.

Once, when I was young and foolish, I stayed up for 47 1/2 hours, just to see what it was like. It was not cool. At all. It was like being on acid, but moreso. In the worst way. I don't recommend it.

[Griz]

At this year's VA state and regional NRA AP matches, I showed up a day early, got in a good practice session with my open gun then got a solid nights rest on Friday night. I turned in a mediocre performance in the regional match on Saturday.

I drank too much that night, slept poorly and shot the state on Sunday tired and mildly hungover with no practice on my metallic gun... Shot way up into the next class and set 2 national records....

[EMTCurly]

I work as a Paramedic with my shifts being 24 on/ 48 off and have to gone to many matches right after getting off shift. Most times I have had less than 6 hours sleep, with many times having had only 2-4 hours sleep in between running 911 calls, and I don't always get those 3-4 hours consecutively!
Have I been tired at the match? Heck yeah! Have I ever been so tired that I felt unsafe handling a firearm? No. There have been many matches I have planned on attending after getting off of work and have been so tired I just went home instead. I think you would feel crappier having taken a shot of cold medicine (NyQuil) the night before a match.

[twodownzero]

Avezorak, on Nov 18 2009, 10:27 PM, said:

I dont sleep much the night before a match. If its my own club match im usually lying awake thinking up ways to better my stages then at the range at daylight to set up.

If other matches im just wired then up early because im gonna be driving and hour or two. Guess the new hasnt worn off the sport yet. But I do a little better at other matches, I guess because theres less stress involved?

I'm the exact same way. I can never sleep the night before a match.

[sandman_sy]

Sleep... hhmm.. maybe i should try that heheh.. i usually go out on out of town shoots.. and end up a bit under the weather on the day of the shoot. I've told myself not do it.. but something comes up whenever im out of town sigh... BUt next shoot WILL be well rested shoot

[Particulars]

heres something to consider http://www.snopes.co...eball/ellis.asp

it seems strange now but I can remember times in the service that I could actually sleep standing up in the dark - not for long periods of time but for 15 - 20 seconds -- and I recall in the book An American in the Gulag - that the guy was being deprived of sleep and would purposely make his tormentors slap him out of his chair just so he could sleep on the way to the floor - and charles lindbergh had to keep his eyes propped open with his fingers and thumbs for a long period of time when he was doing the spirit of st louis thing over the atlantic and going without sleep for 36 hours - without sleep and hearing a gregorian chant at the edge of my reality - it would just be too weird to try and shoot - for me at least sleep is like a narcotic - and when your needing it nothing else seems to matter -- I would reconsider trying to shoot when really laid low from lack of sleep -- for the safety of others.

[Flyin40]

Someone needs to tell that to Manny Bragg. If I remember right he won 3 majors in one weekend. I think it was him and Ted. Then again those guys aren't really human, more like machines.


I worked nights for the last yr and now I'm on 2nd. I did pretty well without sleep but it was rough. The only problem I had was on the last stage of the day about 2 or 3pm after a 4.5hr drive in the morning to the match was that I had an FTE. I was beyond physical fatigue but the mental fatigue set in. One thing I did was use the 5hr energy shot and it worked pretty well. I usually don't do the energy drink thing, try to stay away from them.


Shooting without sleep or very little from the night before isn't a big deal to me. If I have to go 2 or 3 days with little or no sleep is when I'll say forget it.


Flyin