Nightshift -days off

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been a nightshift nurse for about 2 years now. I easily adjusted to nights within my first week of switching and have never felt fatigued on nights. For my first year I had the best of both worlds. I was awake during nights and enjoyed my days off.

For the past 6 months or so I have been so drained on my off days though.

I work my three 12's in a row and feel great during my work portion of the week and usually sleep 6-8hrs in between shifts. On my days off though it doesn't matter how much sleep I get (I'm talking anywhere from 7-14! hours) I feel beat down. I cannot wake up during daytime hours to do chores or to do anything. I only feel my energy pick up around 10pm and by then it's dark, stores are closed, my husband is in bed and everything useful I wanted to get done is pushed off.

I guess more than anything I'm not looking for the advice to switch to days (it would be a 6 dollar pay cut and I love my shift and I'm a charge nurse so there isn't necessarily a day position as charge) or the advice to see a doctor (which I have).

I am just wanting to know does anyone else have a similar issue?

I actually recently had to change my sleep habits for my days off. I used to go home and take about a 4 hour nap, but now I try to stay up as late as I can and set an alarm for the morning. I've once slept a solid 16 hours because I forgot to set an alarm. I've come to realize that you've got to play with sleep habits a little before you can fully decide what's best.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

Yep, I worked nights for 15 years and kept to my night schedule even on my days off as a rule. The up all night, sleep during the day was never an issue for me. I got used to shopping in the middle of the night, thank goodness for a 24 hour Walmart! The more difficult thing was just doing simple housework. Not as easy as you'd think cleaning the house during the night when "normal" people are sleeping. Vacuuming was definitely out of the question.

The only real problem was there are so many things that just can't be done during night hours. Appointments aren't made at 2 am, so on those days I had to function during AM hours. My normal sleep schedule was to come home from work and stay up a few hours, sleeping from late morning to early afternoon and getting up an hour or two before my next shift. It made it easier for me to schedule anything that needed to be done during day hours for as early in the day as possible and I would take care of it after being awake all night and before my usual sleep time.

My dad worked nights for the better part of twenty years. When he retired, he was unable to adjust. It made for a limited, less than satisfying existence for him and my mom. My only suggestion is for you to evaluate your situation and to make concrete plans to make the switch if you don't want to end up in a night shift trap for the rest of your life. Nightowl may be acceptable for some, but not for most. It will be so much easier to change a pattern while you are young enough for your body to adjust.

I've been on nights for 13 years and I can usually switch back and forth pretty easily. I sleep at night on my days off and the day before I go back to work I'll take a few hour nap before going in. On my first day off I'll take a few hour nap during the day and then go to bed at night. Every so often though I'll have a couple of weeks to months where I just can't adjust. I'll sleep during the day at those times (or sometimes day and night) and then my body will readjust itself back to my normal schedule. It's like a cycle for me.

My husband also works nights (5 eights) and on his days off he splits his sleep between days and nights, like 4-6 hours during the day then several hours at night or vice versa.

Lindseylpn - I am the exact same way! I was wondering if anyone else was able to switch back and forth like I do. I seem to be the only person at my job that does. Glad to know I'm not the only one :-)

Specializes in SICU,CTICU,PACU.

i work nights and i love it but i agree the sleeping part can be challenging. most people i know flip back and forth but i am unable to do that. i tend to sleep 4am-11am when I'm off so when i go back to work i don't have to adjust my schedule too much and this works great for me. on my first day off i sleep 6 hours 9a-3p and i am still able to go to sleep at 4am. i used to only sleep 3-4 hours after work and try to go to bed at 10pm but it never worked and i always felt awful. of course i still have times when i feel tired on my days off but for the most part i do not.

good luck!

^^^^ Isn't it shocking to be at the market at 0200 and KNOW about 1/2 dozen of the folks there? Those were my people!! ^^^^

I figured out I was one of the weirdo's. Lol.

My night shift life was short lived but I definitely remember going to the only place open back then 24 hours-WALMART. If you think the people of Walmart are bad during the day....it's no comparison to nights. Kind of like the 3am trip to Denny's Restaurant (are those still around?).

I did this because I couldn't convert back and fourth and I couldn't take seeing any more debt relief commercials on TV or the shocking relization that I've just stared at a Blue's Clues episode on tv because I was so bored but unable to sleep when the rest of my family did. This was long before Netflix or anything else. Heck, I had a VCR.

Specializes in Nephrology Home Therapies, Wound Care, Foot Care..

I have little difficulty staying awake and alert for my shift, am able to sleep most days, still feel exhausted ALL the time.

I go through periods like that. I'm in one now. I don't want to sleep all day, can't sleep at night and feel like crap when I'm not working. It seems to come and go for me. Let me know if you find a solution.

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