Hello Everyone,

I am new here, so if this question has been discussed before ~ forgive me.

I work the 7pm-7am shift on my job. I have been in nursing for 20 some years now ~ 18 years on the 11-7 shift, and the last few on the 7p-7a shift. For a couple years, I worked the 3-11 shift, but wanted to get back on the 7p-7a shift to cut down on the number of days I had to do the long drive (45 min each way) to work.

I liked being able to sleep at night, and having basically the same schedule (getting up in the am and going to bed at night) every day while I worked the 3-11 shift. I have been back on the 7p-7a shift a year now. This time around, I am having such a hard time sleeping at night on my nights off. (I sleep pretty good in the day time when I am working.) I go to bed around midnight and sleep really good for about 2 hours, then I wake up and lay there and lay there and can not get back to sleep. So, I get up ~ usually surf the web (because I am awake, but too tired to do anything else) then get sleepy and go back to bed around 5 or 6am. What happens is I end up sleeping all day as if I had worked a shift, and then sleep away my whole day off. I feel so frustrated because there is so much stuff I want/need to do, and I am sleeping my life away, and too tired when I am awake, and wasting that time.

Unless I get totally desperate, I really don't want to change shifts. I prefer the night shift. I am very shy and quiet, I get along well with my patients, but am not good at dealing with difficult family members and visitors ~ so I stay on the night shift, because there are less of those kind of episodes to deal with.

So, my question is, do any of you have any suggestions for being able to sleep at night on my nights off?

Sorry this was so long ~ thanks for listening.

Gayle

When I worked 7p-7a, I found I functioned much better when i worked all my shifts in row. Worked 3, then off 4. I was able to switch back and forth much better, when my nightshifts were all together in one block. If you can schedule your shifts that way, give it a try.

But then, I was so tired when I worked nights that sleep was never a problem! I could sleep anytime, anywhere.

I am currently experiencing the same problem, I did nights for 3 years then went to days just for the summer, new grad orientation. So now I have been back to nights for about a month, and I am having a hard time with the nights off. Last night I did the same thing, finally fell asleep at 4:30 am and was up at 7:30am w/ my kids, sent them to school in the afternoon and only got about another hour or so. I am on the next 4, and I know that I will be tired. So I really don't have any remadies, except to hang in there. One thing that I am going to try is to stay up during the day more at the end of a stretch. Maby I will be tired enough to actually sleep in the night. I let you know if that works, but in the mean time, I feel for ya sister!!!

I use melitonin...one 3 mg tab when I do work and then the last day I work I don't take any and sleep from about 9am to 1 or 2 pm.....stay up until 10 or 11 and take melitonin at reg. bedtime to sleep.

I no longer drank coffee or any caffine when working nights and try to keep the water intake up also. Try to eat at least one gd meal before I leave for work....meat, veggies...and it all seems to be helping.

For about 3 years I was having the same problems on my nights off. I have worked night for aout 14 year; straight nights for 5 years. I did the same as most of you describe. I wouldn't fall asleep until 0400-0500. Then I tried something different. I went to bed shortly after I got home from work and would sleep about 3 or 4 hrs. instead of 6 or 8. By 2300 I was ready for bed. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I could usually go back to sleep. My husband would get up at 0600 for work and I would get up with him and start my day. I was usually ready for a nap in the afternoon. Most of the time I gave into it and would still sleep ok come bed time. This past summer I did things a little differently, but it still worked. I stayed up when I got home. My husband and I did things together, then I would go to bed at about 4 in the afternoon. I would sleep a couple of hours and then sleep well that night. Now that we are into fall, I am sticking to the summer arrangement. I actually get things accomplished now. Hope that helps.

I usually try on my last morning after nights to make a point of having somewhere to go and make myself get up about 1pm or i could lie there all day. If i can't sleep at night, ( I suffer from the0200/ 0300am wakefullness too) I get in a nice warm bath, with a good book and try and relax. Sometimes it does the trick, but not always. My biggest problem is doing the 1 week a month I have to do on earlies, and then it is a nightmare as I am more of a night person so don't sleep very well anyway.The more you try to force yourself to go to sleep the more uptight and agitated you become. :zzzzz Good luck

I found it impossible to have a life like everyone else and it was easier on me when I quit trying. I stayed up late on my off days and basically kept the same schedule all the time, rather than going back and forth. Life began at 3 pm every day. Good news is: Walmart is open 24hr

The problem with me wanting to sleep at night and be up during the day is that to do that on the first day I have to sleep a couple of hours after working all night. Force myself to stay up during the day. Then I feel just as you do, being up but being too tired to do anything but surf the web, etc. If I leave the house and do something I'm usually o.k., but still feel crappy.

Then when it comes time to go back to work I still feel crappy because sleeping at night throws me off and here I am trying to stay up all night.

Like purplemania I've decided that is just too unhealthy for my body. I let my body be the guide. If I have an appointment or something to do I drag myself to it, otherwise sleep during the day or whenever my body tells me too.

Last night I sleep from about 11pm to 2am, surfed the net a bit, went to the gym, went to the grocery store, did a few loads of laundry, cooked a pot of chili and another pot of spaghetti sauce, read a little and went back to bed at 9AM. Now I've slept all day because there wasn't any need to be up during the day. I'm not one of those night shift workers who feel their days off are wasted by sleeping all day, as I'm productive anyway.

I'm meeting friends for dinner, then staying up all night, and sleeping all day tomorrow and going to work. At work I'll be more fresh.

After nearly 20 years of working nights why force your body to do something it is finding unnatural. Or force yourself to stay up during the day on a couple of hours of sleep so you can sleep at night.

Night shift is tough. Probably the most unhealthy thing I do. (My body loved the 3-11 shift, but I want more days off, and it's too isolating in that I never see anyone but my coworkers.)

Good luck

I too had problems with this, though lately they seems to have gotten better. I usually have no problem sleeping during the day (excpet this week, which is whey I am online right now :) )

I work two on, two off, four on, six off and love it. My first night on, I take a nap for 3-4 hours before work. Then sleep days, work nights. My first night off, I sleep until 1-3, try to work out when I wake up and then go to bed around ten that night. I used to have to take a tylenol pm every night for my first couple of night sleeps because I too work up 2-3 in the morning not being able to sleep and then finally falling back to sleep at six and being tired all day, napping, and then not being able to sleep again (if I get into that pattern I am in trouble) . I bought a new bed and will usually take half a tylenol pm my frist night off just to get me through the night but don't need to keep it up through the week anymore. The bed was worth every penny! I just had to play around with different things until I found something that worked.

I have been on night duty for the last 16 years. Sometimes I work them together and sometimes I work split nights. i.e. night on, night off, night on. On my first day off I sleep until my body wakes up, usually until lunch time, then busy myself for the rest of the day (picking up kids, cooking tea, you know the drill!) then have a glass of red wine with dinner. Works every time for a good nights sleep!

When I worked 7p-7a I'd try to work all my days in a row like some of the other posters here mentioned. When I'd get off in the morning after working my last shift, I'd stay up all day, forcing myself to do things like yardwork, shopping, or anything that kept me constantly moving. I'd be "punchy" around 6 pm and would usually go out to dinner and then come home and fall into bed around 8 pm and sleep like a baby all night. When I'd wake up the next day It would usually be around 8 am and miraculously my body would be on a "day shift" mode for my next 4 days. Then, on the afternoon before my next 3 night stretch would begin, I'd force myself to nap for 3-4 hours before going in to work. It all worked out great for me. Room darkeniing shades and thick curtains helped a lot too!

Good luck to you. I hope someone responding has some ideas that will help you out. Lots of folks have already given some great suggestions!

I do the same as Kitty - one 3 mg Melatonin tablet on my first night back to nighttime sleep after a stretch of working nights. I sleep about 4 hours when I get home in the morning and then am up all afternoon and evening. The melatonin has the added perk of possibly helping reduce the increased risk of cancer we all have from working night and messing up our melatonin production.

I am pretty careful about caffeine; I don't drink any within 4-5 hours of when I plan to sleep.

Sweet dreams!

I am having a very hard time with adjusting. I have been doing the night shift for a few months now and I did well at first. Then last week, I tried going back to the day shift lifestyle. It took me three days to adjust. Last night I started my stretch of nights. I took a two hour nap before work and was fine last night. This morning I slept for less than four hours before waking up. I am half exhausted now. Will be brewing a pot of coffee here in a bit.