How many hours of sleep did you get a night when you were in nursing school?

Nursing Students General Students Nursing Q/A

Nursing school is demanding. Students often report they are struggling with sleep due to the heavy course load, clinical placements, and studying requirements.

My friend says she only gets about 4-5 hours of sleep a night while in NS. I can't function without a minimum of 6-7 hours of sleep and am starting to get nervous and think that maybe I should start training my body to get less sleep (if thats even possible for me).

Have you experienced this while in nursing school? How many hours of sleep did you get per night?

94 Answers

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Sleep: about 5 hours a night, adjusted as needed (for example, I would not try to go into a 12 hour clinical day on anything less than 7 hours of sleep if I could help it)

Studying: about 2-3 hours on school days; twice that on days off. Additional study hours added as needed.

Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I averaged about 3 and 2 respectively. On weekends I tended to "catch up" often sleeping 14-16 hrs straight. I don't recommend it but it can be done.

Specializes in ER, Peds ER.

I don't sleep a lot anyway, I've always been a victim of insomnia. But my sleep patterns were completely jacked in nursing school. I'd come home from class or clinicals and sleep for an hour or two, the get up study, do care plans, etc, for about 6 hours or so then sleep another couple of hours and get up and start my day all over again.

Specializes in med/surg, ER.

Sleep? You are supposed to sleep while in Nursing School? Seriously, 4-5 hours per night with the occasional 6-7 hours.

Specializes in pediatrics, public health.

I slept 8 hours per night before nursing school, during nursing school, and after nursing school. Getting enough sleep was a higher priority to me than studying. I don't function well on little or no sleep. The fact that I was 48 when I started nursing school might have something to do with this -- I used to be able to skip sleep when younger, but not any more.

I studied maybe 1 hour per night, plus a few hours a day on days when I didn't have class or clinical. Somehow, I still managed to get almost straight A's -- my GPA was 3.8.

i haven't lost any sleep during nursing school. i agree with 'noahsmama' that sleep is a higher priority for me than studying & i've maintained straight A's as well.

it's not the amount of time that you spend studying that gets you the grades & helps your understanding, but the quality of studying that you do.

Specializes in A myriad of specialties.

If I recall correctly, I got about 7-8 hours of sleep, spent 5-6 hours studying. Sleep was of the highest priority.

Specializes in ER.

i try to get about 10 a day, life one of the other posters i only sleep when i am tired so i come home from school and either take a nap, relax , or go to work. I then come home sleep get up do work before school any repeat as needed. Sleep is very different for different people i have a buddy who can olny sleep 4-5 hours a night and he does well while i need a little more. i mean i can survive off less i just choose to sleep when i am tired. the key to nursing school is time management so if u have all of your work done then all nighters, and such will not be needed. Just remember to put your best foot forward always. Be prepared for anything and you will succeed. Good luck!!

Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

I got sleep no matter what. If I was tired I did poorly on exams. Sleep is very important for memory formation.

Nursing school isn't that hard. I've worked full time all the way through.

I worked night shift full time while in nursing school. I also held part time jobs during the day. I would nap here and there, never any longer than four hours at a time.

Specializes in ED, Rehab, LTC.

I would get 7 to 8 hours if I didn't have to work the next morning. I took evening classes. I am one of those people that functions better with 8 hours of sleep and one hour of studying then 5 hours of sleep and four hours of studying.

I only had a hard time when I had clinicals until 11p and didn't get to sleep until 1a and had to be at work at 7a. That was rare, but it kicked my but.

I didn't study every single day, but I went to school part-time and worked also. I probably studied 2-3 days (sometimes for 5-8 hours) on a good week and not at all on a bad week.

I didn't think lack of sleep or study time was what was difficult about nursing school. For me it was all the tests and or labs that were pass or fail that put so much pressure on us. Not all nursing schools function this way and I found second level to be a lot less stressful.

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