Advice/Tips - NIght Shift-Sleep Issues

[EMEddie]

Hello everyone-

I have been working the night shift for a couple of months, but it seems that I am having a hard time adapting to it on my days off.

I work 3 days in a row 80% of the time, so when I get off work, I go home and unwind for an hr or two before I go to bed and wake up feeling refreshed, get ready for work. The issue is on my days off.

On my last night at work, I still come home and sleep from 9am-3-4pm, then its impossible to sleep during the night.

By my second day off, I sleep an hr or two at night, wake up, sleep another hr and once it hits 7am, then I completely fall asleep, waking up again in the afternoon, feeling zombed out and basically spending most of my days off in the damn bed lol.

I work 6pm-6:30-7am shifts; as I said, most of the time I get the three in a row with a couple of exceptions where I work 2, have 1 off and then back for 2.

Tips, advice, suggestions from you guys? Its just soo darn hard to get up even on my days off at an earlier time..

[weirdscience]

Get up no later than noon or 1 on your first day off, no matter what. You'll be exhausted that night and it'll be easier to get back to somewhat of a daytime living schedule.

[Biffbradford]

There's no magic answer, you'll just have to experiment. I used to get home ASAP and then get up at 1 or 2pm on my nights off too. Worked for me (for a while until the 1+ hour drive home every morning killed me).

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

I rotate 4 weeks of days 2 of nights. I make appt so that I have to drag myself out of bed. Hairdresser beauty therapist (until she banned me from doing it as nights destroy my skin) lunch with a friend. I have lots of nurse friends from various wards so someone will get me up.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I do not have young kids- so here's what I do: On my nights off, I remain up until 2-4am and sleep until 10a-noon. I still have plenty of daytime hours to do what I need to do, interact with the workld and such, and it's not such a brutal adjustment.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

Do you have to switch your sleep back and forth for some reason, or are you just trying to because you want to? I always just sleep during the same hours. I sleep about 10a-6p, no matter whether I'm working or not, and that totally eliminates all sleep issues, and I never have problems getting things done. Businesses that close at 5p are usually open at 8a so I can run those errands before I sleep, and places that open after 10a usually don't close 'til 9p or later. Problem solved - at least for me. :)

[lilaclover6984]

How many days do you usually have off after working 3 nights?

[Vishwamitr]

Hello EMEddie,

Theoritically, I believe that one can never get "used to" or "adjusted" to working at nights for the simple reason that humans are not nocturnal animals but adapting and attempting to reverse their diurnal cycle (I worked nights for 4 years, full-time). But then again, you'll meet nurses who'd not have it any other way. I know nurses who have worked nights for over 25 years and extol the "merits" of working at nights. So I guess, it is a very individualized matter.

Just one word of caution: Melatonin is secreted only when it is "pitch dark", so make sure that you darken the room enough. I had heavy, black curtains installed and couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

Good luck with the so-called "easy" shift. To tell you the truth, based on my own experience, it was the hardest thing that I ever experienced and the worst thing that I did to my own body. They couldn't pay me enough to repeat my mistake.