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Hi everyone! I am a new grad RN starting my residency next month on a tele floor — I will be working FT nights 7pm-7am. I’m kinda nervous and scared that it will be hard for me to adjust, and I literally have no idea what to expect.
If you work nights (or have ever worked nights), what did you do to adjust? What are your off days like? What are your meals/eating schedules like? What is your skincare like? (I have a day and nighttime skincare routine—I’m wondering if I should flip them once I start working nights.)
Also, is it best to work 3 consecutive night shifts? Or is it better to spread the shifts out throughout the week?
Any advice or tips help! I plan on getting black out curtains and I already have a fan to block out noise.
Turn off your phone or do what Kallie does. I would suggest not working more than 2 in a row until you see how you function at work and how you sleep days. You can gut out that 2nd shift with poor sleep but that third one will get you. Eat light at all meals, if you eat heavy meals at work you'll get sleepy and if you eat heavy ones before sleep you'll gain weight. I try not to drink caffeine after 3-3:30 am if I want to sleep that day, if I want to just stay up to do chores then I guzzle it. I always try to take a nap before my first shift, even if I don't sleep I feel better if I lay down.
OMG @pebblebeach your post is so scary! I will be starting nights, too soon. I have actually worked night shift before as a caregiver so I’m not naive to this struggle, but it wasn’t full time. It was just a night or two a week, but was tough while I was in nursing school as I was switching back and forth nights to days almost daily. I have to get off work sometimes and drive to lecture, lol.
Thanks for starting the thread, OP, maybe you and I can keep in touch as we start this journey and support each other. One thing I’m super worried about is remembering to take my thyroid pill daily and making sure I haven’t eaten anything for 3 hours prior, which may be tough on night shift. I think there will be lots of trial and error for us newbies! Thank you Ruby for sharing the other thread, too.
I've worked night shift ever since becoming a nurse, nearly three years ago.
You have gotten some really good advice so far, so I will only add my routine.
I work three nights in row, and eat breakfast as soon as I get home.
I sleep as long as I can, and eat a light dinner prior to going in to work.
During work, around midnight, or so, I eat another light dinner.
Days off, I am on day schedule.
After shift three, as a reward for making it through three nights, I go to breakfast with one or two other nurses on my unit.
Good luck.
Night shift is great!
14 hours ago, 0.9%NormalSarah said:OMG @pebblebeach your post is so scary! I will be starting nights, too soon. I have actually worked night shift before as a caregiver so I’m not naive to this struggle, but it wasn’t full time. It was just a night or two a week, but was tough while I was in nursing school as I was switching back and forth nights to days almost daily. I have to get off work sometimes and drive to lecture, lol.
Thanks for starting the thread, OP, maybe you and I can keep in touch as we start this journey and support each other. One thing I’m super worried about is remembering to take my thyroid pill daily and making sure I haven’t eaten anything for 3 hours prior, which may be tough on night shift. I think there will be lots of trial and error for us newbies! Thank you Ruby for sharing the other thread, too.
It wasn't my intention to scare -- I'm sorry! I just wanted to be honest about my experience, as nights is not for everyone. I have had to find solutions to the nausea, mental health, etc. and as long as I am consistent, I know I will survive night shift until a spot opens up on days.
I did forget to point out (as many have already) that the teamwork on nights really is great.
21 minutes ago, pebblebeach said:It wasn't my intention to scare -- I'm sorry! I just wanted to be honest about my experience, as nights is not for everyone. I have had to find solutions to the nausea, mental health, etc. and as long as I am consistent, I know I will survive night shift until a spot opens up on days.
I did forget to point out (as many have already) that the teamwork on nights really is great.
Haha that’s ok, Pebble, I know you were just being honest. It’s good to hear and very helpful. I hope you get things under control and start having a better quality of life very soon! Yes my new manager told me the same thing, the night crew is super cohesive. OP do you know if your new night crew is like that? Hopefully it will be so you make some good friends and nights don’t seem so bad!
over 30+ years on nights....i personally prefer 7 on 7 off. Not as exhausting. After finish week, sleep til no later than 1100, stay up rest of day, go to bed at normal time and my body has made the change for my week of normal people living.
Not going to lie, sometime those week of work gets darned long, but knowing you have a week off, every other week, does it for me.
9 hours ago, pebblebeach said:It wasn't my intention to scare -- I'm sorry! I just wanted to be honest about my experience, as nights is not for everyone. I have had to find solutions to the nausea, mental health, etc. and as long as I am consistent, I know I will survive night shift until a spot opens up on days.
I did forget to point out (as many have already) that the teamwork on nights really is great.
I think there are far more people who WILL not adjust to night shift than those who CANNOT adjust. Almost anyone can, with a good attitude and good habits, adjust to night shift. The only person I've ever met who could not adjust was a woman with Type I diabetes who could not get her A1C into a reasonable range without transitioning to days. I've seen an awful lot of folks claim they couldn't adjust, but on further discussion they just chose not to.
57 minutes ago, jetsy62 said:Put a note on your front door stating "Do Not Disturb Between 8 and 5" or whatever time you decide. It is amazing how many times during the day someone is ringing the doorbell, especially before elections, start of school (fundraisers), etc.
Or just disable your doorbell.
A friend of my ex-husband's trained our dog to bark at the sound of a doorbell, despite me frequently and consistently asking her NOT to do that because I worked nights. She thought it was cute. The doorbell was loud, and so was the dog. I ended up disabling the doorbell . . . worked like a charm. If I was awake and downstairs, I could hear neighbors using the door knocker, and that didn't inspire the dog to bark.
I work nights and I f******* love it. I oriented on days for 14 weeks and was miserably every dam morning. I'm a night owl at baseline so when I switched to 3p-3a and 7p-7a I was much happier.
I do 11a-11p here and there and that's cutting it real close haha.
If you're a night person, doing nights will be a lot more tolerable than days.
22 hours ago, Ruby Vee said:I think there are far more people who WILL not adjust to night shift than those who CANNOT adjust. Almost anyone can, with a good attitude and good habits, adjust to night shift. The only person I've ever met who could not adjust was a woman with Type I diabetes who could not get her A1C into a reasonable range without transitioning to days. I've seen an awful lot of folks claim they couldn't adjust, but on further discussion they just chose not to.
Agreed. I have the positive attitude part down and I continue to work on good habits. I've definitely heard of instances where RNs bring in a doctor's note to get out of night shift after a v. short time on nights. In contrast ... my coworker with sickle cell? She could NOT adjust to nights. She was a fighter until the bitter end, though.
pebblebeach, BSN, RN
70 Posts
Congrats on the gig! I started out in a new grad orientation program too, and we started out on nights. I have always been very sensitive to sleep, and my psychologist strongly advised me to not go on night shift, but it really wasn't a choice. So I went into it with a positive attitude and pretended I could be a night person.
I've had a hard time. I do all the tricks -- blackout curtains, the original Dohm white noise machine (go big or go Dohm), essential oil diffuser, eyemask, etc. Sleeping between shifts isn't a huge issue now. In the beginning I would have so much adrenaline from shifts getting home that I couldn't turn my brain off -- give that a few weeks and I was tired enough to let that go, lol
I've never been the sleepy type on the job, I'm the opposite -- engaged and high-alert (sometimes to a fault -- fine line between alert and anxious). The big problem for me is my days off. I've read all Googlable advice on this: Set an alarm if you nap - GET UP no matter what - and switch yourself back to a daytime schedule. (Or stay nocturnal all week - which I tried once and was so dreary I never did it again, but it may work for some)
So, I finish the three shifts consecutive (I prefer that, btw - continuity with pt care and with report is wonderful) and the fourth day is the day to switch back. I will nap for a couple hours, wake up to the alarm and feel like the crankiest human on the planet & like I haven't rested at all, or I'll "listen to my body" (fine line there, again) and next thing I know it's dark (AM or PM? who knows!) I have several missed calls from concerned friends & fam, and I haven't hydrated in 16-18 hours. My mood may be lighter, but my body feels like it's been hit my a truck. I think only graveyard shifters who have experienced this crash can relate to that feeling.
I've also never dealt with nausea before and have discovered I cannot eat on nights. (Coming from a big snacker who loves food, this sucks) So I will try to have a healthy meal when I get home or before work, and then bring a smoothie or something my stomach can handle during the shift. I've lost 14 lbs since starting night shift and not in a good way. I've added iron, Vitamin D supplements, and Miralax to my daily routine (don't even get me started on the change in BM habits... my GI tract doesn't know what the hell is going on)
My mental health has taken a hit for sure. I have managed my depression pretty well for almost a decade now with a combination of therapy and SSRIs, but having that baseline history of depression added to chronic sleep debt (and sometimes forgetting to take my med because I was so strung out at first w/ what day/time it was) I have had... rough weeks. Two days particularly come to mind when I felt truly bottomed out. Waking up crying, feeling worthless, the whole lot. Thankfully I have been in that spot before, and even knew as it was happening -- "this is chemical, you're exhausted, this is temporary" Still lousy, though.
All that said, I know this is not forever. Nights are not for me long-term. The pay is nice, but I'd rather get paid less and feel like a functioning human on my days off.
One hack that has helped, I carpool with a coworker on our days that we are scheduled together, and we play goofy songs (Spice Girls, etc) on the drive and sing like fools, it helps my mood so much on those days coming into the shift. Or if I drive solo, I'll sing my heart out to Aretha Franklin or something equally over the top. Whatever works!
Keep us posted how you're doing. Wanted to share from the perspective of someone who is on nights but not thriving, but I know I'll get through it.