Sleeping During the Day

[AICU RN]

Saturday night was my first ever night shift as a nurse (I was hired as full time nights). Well, I got home on Sunday morning and went to bed. Suffice it to say, I was having a hard time sleeping. My husband is always cold and keeps the heat a smidge too hight. At one point during the day I wake up, look at him, and say, "Dear, Please just take the Bair Hugger off of me. I really don't need it."

He looked at me like I was crazy. :rotfl:

[AICU RN]

This is too funny. I love all the tips though. Our orientation period is hard because I did 2 straight months of days, now I'm on 2 weeks of nights then 5 days then 7 nights then a week of days... Ouch! It's just because of all the classes, I will go to full time nights in March.

Everyone at my hospital was warning me about how terrible night shift food was and I figured they were right because that's how night shift was at my old hospital, but I found out our small food shop that's open 24 hrs will make made to order breakfast sandwiches all night. YUM!

As far as sleeping during the day, it's going to take me awhile. I have two little kids so they always want to play. I was never a solid sleeper, even at night I am up at least once or twice and it turns out sleeping during the day is no different. I really want some of those shades that block the light though.

Keep the tips coming!

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

I work permanent nights. My phone is always off, I have black curtains, and I wear earplugs. I will either take melatonin or benadryl to help me sleep. (Benadryl contains the same medicine as many of your over the counter sleep aids, in case you're wondering). I also maintain pretty much the same schedule on my nights off.

[JerseyBSN]

This is my routine:

50mg of Benadryl

Take a shower

Eat something

Turn the phone off

Hang a sign on the front door "Day sleeper, do not ring doorbell or knock, Thank You"

Close the dark curtains

Turn the phone off

Put ear plugs in my ears

Say my prayers

I bought a separate pay per minute cell phone for $14.95. My family knows to call me only if it's a true emergency.

[NayRN]

I'm going to days next month after working nights for three years-I love nights for many reasons, and I don't necessarily want to go to day shift (busier, less pay) but the days where I switch myself around kill me-staying awake for 26 hours straight is never good! Also, I try to live a normal life on my days off, but I am always tired in the late morning-afternoon! I don't know if I'll like days or not, and I am already planning my return to nights if I hate it!

As far as sleeping during the day goes, I have always had difficulty. Even when exhausted, I will wake up at noon and think its time to get up. I have black out curtains, I keep the room cool, and my husband is good about keeping the baby out of the house so it is quiet. Benadryl stopped working, so I have had to resort to NyQuil as my sleep aid-not so healthy, I know, but had to do something.

I tried a face mask and ear plugs, but I always woke up with them off, so apparently I didn't like them.

The fact that you actually get "night shift food" is a huge bonus-we have a fridge and a freezer and a microwave. Dominoes delivers until 10 or 11:) No wonder I've gained so much weight working nights. My metabolism hates me.

[NenjaRN]

I do this too!! Haha

[MonyRNcali]

Ive been on nights for 4 years now, and have discovered the only trick is a very dark room and to limit caffeine early in the morning. Noise is inevitable considering most of the world is awake lol, but turn the phones off. It took me at least a year to learn to sleep in the day..but now that I've gotten the hang of it..its lights out within 10-20minutes :zzzzz

[CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I'm so glad I stumbled onto this thread!! I am a new grad nurse and am starting my very first big girl job soon! I had the choice of picking ALL nights or Day/Night mix... I picked all nights figuring that it would be harder to adjust to the latter... Any thoughts on this????? or comments???

I am goign to get some nice curtains and a sleeping mask!

Congrats on your new job!

It's definitely harder for me to bounce back & forth between shifts than it is to stay on just a single shift.

I also find it harder to adjust my body clock from nights to days, than it is to adjust the other way around. I work 1 month of nights followed by 2 months of days. When I flip from nights back to days, it takes me 1-2 weeks to get my body clock readjusted. No fun at all...

[froggy8, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the valuable advice!!

[12leakec]

Well I haven't had to work during the night so much that I had to sleep during the day. But I'm sure if I have to work at night then I'll sleep good.

[myrn11]

When I used to work nights one time I woke up after only being asleep a short time ran out into the living room and told my boyfriend that there were huge bugs flying around the room everywhere. I then realized I was sleeping and went back to bed! I never could get used to nights so I switched back to days.

[AICU RN]

That's funny. I fell asleep in the shower yesterday for a whole ten minutes and never fell over . I love nights though. I have to switch back and forth between days and nights during orientation and I don't want to go back to days already.