Night shift nurses

[CABG patch kid]

Hello all, I am a new nurse who will be starting a new job very soon. Next week is my "hospital" and "nursing" orientation, then the following week I'll start working night shift with my preceptor.

My question is to all you night nurses out there: What do you do on your nights off? I am a night owl, and plan to stay up all night on my nights off, but I'm thinking that watching T.V. all night might get boring pretty quickly. What do you all do?

Looking forward to hearing about it~

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Obviously, everyone is different. For me, there is something inhuman about waking up at 5am. I hate it. And even worse, trying to force myself to go to sleep at 10 pm is futile. My body never wants to sleep before 1230 am, even if I was up earlier that day. Nights are just all around more suitable.

[franciscangypsy]

What do you do on your nights off? I am a night owl, and plan to stay up all night on my nights off, but I'm thinking that watching T.V. all night might get boring pretty quickly. What do you all do?

I've been doing this about a year. Since I'm trying to become a published author, I write on my nights off. I also nap (prn), talk to my boyfriend until he goes to bed at mn, catch up with people who either work nightshift or who stay up late and live far away, do chores, exercise, read, watch movies/TV shows, scrapbook.

There's a ton to do at night when no one is there. Sometimes it's more of a matter of you finding what fits you.

I hope you find the way to stay awake at night that best fits you. :)

[Lucci]

On first day after working a stretch of nights I try to reset my sleep pattern by waking up after 4or5 hrs of sleep and going to bed at a normal time that night, 12 or 1am. The first day off after working a string of nights I always feel like I am in a "haze" so don't operate heavy equipment. I worked 12hr nights for 3yrs(7a-7p) and that seemed to work best for me. Grouping the days into 3 days on and 3 off. Currently I am working 8hr nights 7on/7off.