Is no sleep a reasonable excuse for calling in sick to work?

[Catermellor]

Is ‘I haven’t slept at all’ a reasonable excuse for not going to work?

I really haven’t. I might have had two hours maybe 9-11 and then maybe dozed for half an hour between 4 and 430’but that’s it and that’s a generous guess. I feel all shaky and horrible and I just want to catch up on some sleep.

hopefully OP has gone to work.

I get that kids are hard and lack of sleep is brutal but the amount of people on MN who have zero resilience to life is outstanding. You work 2 days a week. You last worked Monday and after today, have the weekend off.

I know it's not a race to the bottom but when my son was little I worked full time, as a single parent and did all the sleepless nights and worked 5 days a week 8-5pm. It is just life.

I cannot imagine calling in sick because I am tired 🙄I would never be at work!

I would say power through. I have a 2 year old who sleeps horrifically. I always feel better and breakfast, coffee and shower.

If you do call in sick, i would make up a more serious reason. A lot of people don’t sleep well so i think you’re at risk of being judged if you call in sick because you haven’t slept. Especially as you only work 2 days.

Me too, but I only work 2 nights and I have called in sick from lack of sleep.
I do suffer from insomnia though and can usually still function on 2-4 hrs sleep. On this occasion though I had zero sleep between nightshifts and was coming off the back of a weeks long run of insomnia....I was scared I would actually kill someone if I came into work!
Honestly though if its just one night and you have a low risk job then Id just go in and fill up on coffee!
Although I suppose not everybody reacts the same way to lack of sleep....

You are coming off as a bit of a wimp. Swap your day or go in. A whole nation of women has raised badly sleeping kids without ducking out of work.

I remember that nauseated feeling of being jolted awake repeatedly when you're exhausted. Sleep deprivation is torture for a reason, and if you had a bad night then night before too then I understand. I wouldn't judge you either way, I would just say in that kind of exhaustion you might not make the best decision. If you CAN power through in any way then do but it also depends on your job. If you're giving medical advice or anything law based or anything physically dangerous then I would phone in sick.

It's a pity that whole nation of women with the same experience isn't a bit more understanding and compassionate and determined to improve the quality of life of mothers and children, instead of demanding that everyone else suffers the same way.

The days I used to go into work at 8am only having got home at 4am 😅

Absolutely no way I could do that now. Thank god for home working also on the days I don't get much sleep.

As a manager, I have had people call in sick for this and I just accepted it. But take a slightly dim view privately. It’s a bit wimpy and I think you have to just crack on.
I think people usually underestimate how much they’ve slept. I sometimes think I’ve had a shocking night and my sleep tracker says I’ve had 5 or 6 hours total, with all my usual amount of deep sleep. It’s not that bad.

I've had to go in and teach all day/do important meetings on no sleep. Once I'm in and doing the job, I generally feel okay - just a bit cold and jittery. Hot coffee and sugary snacks has always got me through though.

Who's looking after your little one if you go to work? Assuming if she's been ill enough to be up all night then she wouldn't be going to her normal childcare? I'd say a more acceptable reason for being off is having to look after your poorly child.

People telling her to suck it up don't know if she's driving to work. Driving on no sleep is as bad as drink driving as far as reaction times are concerned. Not everyone has ample taxis available at short notice in their area. What if she falls asleep at the wheel and kills someone?

If I really felt I wasn't safe to work, I'd call in sick, but I'd say I was unwell rather than admit lack of sleep as the reason. And I'm not a person who generally has much time off sick - only one instance in the last 10 years.

It does seem like it's enough nowadays, doesn't it?
😐

I've done that before, but I just said something a bit more vague about feeling dizzy. This was true, but caused byt he lack of sleep!

If you are unwell and shaky you are sick.

I know what you mean but in the end, what matters is the pattern. Staff who are taking sick days every month just means I can't put them on the really important projects, so it ends up being harder to make a case for them as top performers - which matters when we're asked to trim 10%. But once in a while, I really don't care why they're off. They could even just take a short notice holiday if there's nothing on, doesn't matter at all to me.

It will get easier one day!

Call in sick - i've done it. No need to go into details, just say i haven't slept x

For me it would depend on whether you left colleagues to handle deadlines that would have been yours on top of their own.

In that case, I wouldn't stay home. I used to have daily and weekly deadlines. Unless I really was ill, I wouldn't leave that to everyone else.

Are you driving or operating on patients? If not, just suck it up. We've all gone to work on little sleep. Why would you want to get a reputation for being flaky, not to mention giving employers yet another reason not to employ parents of young children?

I think it depends on the job. I went in to teach after little to no sleep and during a demonstration managed to burn my arm with a soldering iron. Probably shouldn’t have gone in!

Depends on the job. If a pilot or driver or surgeon or operating some kind of machinery yeah.
in an office job not really, unless you were actually ill in the night. Though if I was really struggling I’d say I was ill and leave it at that.

back in my youth I remember on a few occasions getting an overnight flight from the US and going straight to work! 😆😆

That is an absolute load of rubbish!
Hope you are ok OP - lack of sleep is awful

Sleep deprivation is a firm of torture, so being massively sleep deprived does affect your ability to do your job.
Call in sick. Be honest, especially if you have to drive at all, as driving whilst very tired is so dangerous.

It definitely will get easier.

I'd ring in sick. As long as you are only doing it when you're absolutely at breaking point, I don't see the problem. I also don't see any difference between you working five days a week or two days a week. If anything, working two days a week and looking after a baby/toddler the other three days by yourself is physically more exhausting than working outside the home full time.

I went through this with my second. I had a new work position, really long hours - working until 12/1am some nights, and then she'd wake every 45 minutes to feed and I would go in to work at 7am. When I look back on it now it was bonkers. Nobody knew I was working off very little sleep, and everyone was a mum with young kids at the time so I'm not sure I would have got much sympathy anyway. I only stopped the merry-go-round when I got pregnant again. I took a few sick days over first trimester and just slept during the day. I felt so much better and should have had done it months previously. I think I took five sick days over eight weeks.

I'm still in the same job, and have progressed upwards, and manage a good sized team. Those sick days taken didn't hold me back at all. In the scheme of things your health is the top priority - your employer doesn't care if you drop dead or crash your car on the way to work due to exhaustion. Put yourself first.

I’d still go in. I’ve gone in with literally no sleep. Having said that I don’t drive. That might be dangerous.

It’s because we used to have a bit more gumption and not be so feeble. It’s a pity so many people nowadays aren’t able to just get on with it. Next OP will be moaning about how badly the economy is doing due to low productivity and how they haven’t had a pay rise in years.

I find it odd that adult and parents at that, need to ask this on a public forum. No you don't call in sick for a night without sleep. No one with an ounce of care and sense of responsibility for letting work down would do this.