Are you Tanning?

[Brian]

Ok so we all know that night shifters can become kinda hermit-like during the day. And this can lead to some interesting situations: doing grocery shopping in the middle of the night, calling friends at 2am and wanting to go shopping at 3 in the morning. So, what have you tried to do at night that just wasn't quite the norm?

[HangInThere, BSN, RN]

Mind if I ask what you usually eat at 'breakfast', 'lunch', and 'dinner'? In other words, what foods keeps you going?

I started evening-nights three months ago, and really want to figure this out to stay healthy, so here's what I'm trying. I work 7:30pm-8:00am shifts, and I go for a big meal at 6:00pm 'breakfast', maybe eggs, toast & turkey bacon, OJ. Then my 1:00am 'lunch' is a sandwich, fruit, milk or maybe a salad with grilled chicken I picked up on the way to work. By the end of my shift I'm ravenous and probably should get a power bar or a handful of almonds in my tummy around 6:00am, but my unit gets super-busy.

When I get home, I eat 'dinner' - but I'm so whipped I have a hard time creating a good meal for myself. Sometimes soup and leftover veggies. Then I recline and watch a couple of "Mad Men" episodes--which I've already seen, so when I start nodding off, that's very okay. My body welcomes sleep, it's my mind that has to slow down.

I'm so interested in finding a routine that works, and trying to avoid caffeine when I can. I'm curious to learn what works for you and other "night-shifties".

[imbatz, BSN, RN]

I eat something light like a smoothie for my 5:30pm breakfast. I usually do packed lunch dinner/ or sandwich for my 1am lunch, and I will eat traditional breakfast foods for my 7am dinner. I don't drink coffee but occasionally will supplement with a crystal light energy mix. I do try to drink at least 2L during a shift.

[HangInThere, BSN, RN]

Ah, the 2L of water is key!

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Seriously, there is no way I will stay up all night if I'm not being paid to do so:yuck:. When my night shift ends, I get to bed as soon as possible so that I can wake up and be up long enough to get back to sleep by normal night hours, and rise the next morning like normal people do. I refuse to let my job control my pre-nursing sleep patterns. I love working nights but I don't get so into it that it makes me want to go lay out on the beach in the middle of the night when I'm off. Just wait until one of you night-shifters has a night shift colleague as a patient....talk about wanting to get a one-time dose of Ambien, followed by Restoril if it doesn't work.

On that note, it's 8:05pm by my clock. Time for me to start calling it a night...busy day tomorrow. It's not very often that I get to sleep in my own bed when night falls. How exciting!!! Good night!

[HangInThere, BSN, RN]

Here's a few more things I wonder about other night-shifters:

1. When do you take your break?

2. How long is your break? (Mine is 1-hr unpaid meal break plus 2 20-minute breaks for a 12.5-hr shift.)

3. Do you sleep during your break? If not, what do you do?

[poppycat, ADN, BSN]

BSNbeDONE,

I had to laugh reading the part of your post about having a night shift nurse as a patient. I am a hardcore night shifter. I started working night shift in 1975 when I started nursing school & I still work nights. Last October I had my first knee replacement. I brought my iPad to the hospital with me because I knew I wouldn't be sleeping at night. The nurses & CNA's were so nice when they saw me awake in the middle of the night. They only asked me once if I wanted a sleeping pill. I told them those don't work for me at night because that's when my body wants to be awake. After that, they used to come in & spend part of their break with me just talking. In February I went to the same unit after my second knee replacement. The same nurse admitted me who had done so the first time. She remembered me and said, "you're the one the night nurses visit with".

I will say, though, I make a huge effort not to be a pain in the butt when I'm a patient. I don't watch every move the staff makes & I usually don't mention I'm a nurse. I think the only request I made that could be considered out of the ordinary was for a fan. I live in a constant state of extreme hot & need a fan on at all times. They got maintenance to bring me a fan and he asked me if I wanted the air conditioning turned down. He was able to override the system & turn the air in my room to 65 which was perfect. (All the rooms are private. I wouldn't have done that if I had a roommate!)

[poppycat, ADN, BSN]

.

Here's a few more things I wonder about other night-shifters:

1. When do you take your break?

2. How long is your break? (Mine is 1-hr unpaid meal break plus 2 20-minute breaks for a 12.5-hr shift.)

3. Do you sleep during your break? If not, what do you do?

see below

[poppycat, ADN, BSN]

Here's a few more things I wonder about other night-shifters:

1. When do you take your break?

2. How long is your break? (Mine is 1-hr unpaid meal break plus 2 20-minute breaks for a 12.5-hr shift.)

3. Do you sleep during your break? If not, what do you do?

I work private duty home care so I have a lot of down time which I consider "breaks". When I worked in hospitals, we usually took our lunch break between 2 & 4 in the morning.

At the last hospital I worked, we usually combined our 2 15 minute breaks with our 30 minute lunch & just took a 1 hour break about halfway through the shift. We had an awesome break room with a big table, full kitchen, some comfy chairs & couches.

I, personally, never slept during my break because it takes me longer to fall asleep than what the nap would have been. I had some coworkers who took "power naps" for 15-20 minutes & always said they felt better afterwards. I've never been able to do that. It takes me 1/2 hour-45 minutes just to fall asleep because I can't turn my mind off.

It's rare that I get sleepy at work. If it happens, I just get up and move around for a little bit & the sleepiness goes away.

[bagladyrn, RN]

Regarding the "night shifter as patient" - I've already informed everyone I know that I will be that old woman in the geriatric unit sitting in the chair next to the nurses station all night folding towels - you know there is one of those on every geri unit! After 30+ years on nights, no way are they going to be able to force me to sleep!