Early Morning Nurses (and Nursing Students)

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm trying to get as many people in nursing as possible to comment on this issue. How do you get up in the morning for your shift or clinical, especially if you are not a morning person? What's your morning routine look like? How do you avoid sleeping in? What happens if you've gotten little sleep the night before?

I've got 4 kids that roosters use as alarm clocks, so...never really slept in. I set my alarm, I hear it, I'm out of bed and into the restroom to wash my face, yank my hair back, brush my teeth and apply deodorant. I throw my scrubs on, and hit the car. I get breakfast and a huge iced tea on the way. I shower at night, so I can wake up at 6 for a 6:45 shift. I've never been a coffee drinker, that amount of caffeine gives me palpitations. I don't *like* it, but it's fully doable. (does anyone really like having to set an alarm?)

Some people are just am people. I can't work nights. I'd fall asleep and let a patient die, or get in a wreck on the way home. Find a shift that works for you.

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I'm a light sleeper and prefer pms, but when I'm rotated to days I set out my breakfast, pack my lunch and put out my uniform the night before. Number one rule, get out of bed right away, no snooze alarms, no resting, no delays. Get the kettle on for tea, take my shower, eat, drink, makeup and teeth, and go. Takes 40 minutes.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

I need to figure out how to do this with a toddler that doesn't like to sleep at night [emoji15] I'm in my last semester of school and my clinicals are the earliest they've been 0630 start, two days in a row. I work 7a-7p prn but always schedule at least a day or 2 in between to catch up on sleep via naps while the toddler is at school. This last semester is going to really rough for me

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.
Not quite! Nyquil products have doxylamine succinate as the antihistamine/drowsiness inducer, which you can find under the brand name Unisom. Both Unisom and Benadryl can make you pretty groggy the next day, so don't experiment with new meds on the night before clinical. Taking them earlier in the evening can help minimize the hangover.

As others have said, it helps to avoid stimulants in the evening. Do something relaxing as you're winding down for bed like reading, listening to music, doing some guided meditation, or something fun like ASMR (never heard of it? grab your earbuds and go to YouTube!). TURN THOSE LIGHTS OFF. Any light, but particularly the blue light from electronic devices, interferes with production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

I set increasingly obnoxious alarms starting at "It would be smart to get up at this time" and running through "Get up now or you'll be late." I'll also set an alarm across the room next to some Diet Coke. If I reward myself for stumbling across the room with a glass of bubbles and caffeine, I tend to avoid hitting snooze more easily.

Allow extra time for your drive and arrival, always. There will be random setbacks of weather or traffic so it's smart to be early anyway, but my day always starts a little more smoothly if I have a few minutes after arrival to take a deep breath, gather my thoughts, and start settling in for the day.

I've read (somewhere don't remember wear though) that although Benadryl makes you sleepy that you don't go through all the sleep cycles properly and don't get quality REM sleep which means it will make you groggy and have a "Benadryl hangover" the following day.

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Specializes in M/S, Pulmonary, Travel, Homecare, Psych..

Cats help.

Seriously.

I give my cat moist food every morning, and he has dry food all day available too. He loves his moist food though.

Ugh, some mornings he is just such a brat. Walking on me, sitting on my head, running around the room in circles............

I AM NOT allowed to serve the moist food a minute late. I can't even sleep in on off days cause of this.

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Specializes in Adult MICU/SICU.

Traditionally I had always had the misfortune of working an early AM shift, nurse or not. Even when I had to medically retire for almost a decade due to a chronic health condition that nearly swallowed me alive I still had an underage child whom needed AM guidance in order to get ready and be at school on time (oh yeah, and a ride to get there too until he could drive himself).

When I returned to nursing I got a job working telephone triage from home, but the shifts rotate - sometimes even in the same week. Now the afternoon shifts I can tolerare, because I can sleep in - the early AM shifts are horrible no matter how many years I've had to wake up early, and there is no doubt I can hardly stomach them at all.

I have a bit of an advantage working from home: none of that make up application, messing with my hair, or coming up with an appropriate outfit necessary. But getting my sorry behind out of bed still stinks plenty.

I've had many a night with a sick child where the sleep was minimal and still had to care for said sick child throughout the next day, so getting through a day sleep deprived is not something I've never endured. Plus, I get nights where I won't sleep no matter how hard I try, then crash land hard when I finally do. It's not pretty, but it happens. I still function, albeit less joyfully than I would like.

I use the alarm on my phone (no snooze to waste time with, plus it's a lot more gentle than most alarms I've encounered). A big dose of caffiene helps too, but there is just no getting around the fact that I am just not a morning person any more.

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Specializes in Adult MICU/SICU.
Cats help.

Seriously.

I give my cat moist food every morning, and he has dry food all day available too. He loves his moist food though.

Ugh, some mornings he is just such a brat. Walking on me, sitting on my head, running around the room in circles............

I AM NOT allowed to serve the moist food a minute late. I can't even sleep in on off days cause of this.

Yep, the AM bladder march by a friendly feline is definitely something to pull even the staunchest AM sleep-inner into an earlier riser - whether you want to, or not.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

I dread early mornings, but I've had no choice to adapt. My work day begins at 0715a. I stretch for 10 minutes before I do anything.

I walk to work and this wakes me up (20 minutes). I refuse to do any sort of commute, always have.

I'm in bed by 1030 pm and I start winding down 90 minutes earlier.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

Getting up for work is hard, whether you have to go in at 7AM or 7PM. :roflmao:

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I dread early mornings, but I've had no choice to adapt. My work day begins at 0715a. I stretch for 10 minutes before I do anything.

I walk to work and this wakes me up (20 minutes). I refuse to do any sort of commute, always have.

I'm in bed by 1030 pm and I start winding down 90 minutes earlier.

What if you get hired to work at some place you don't live close to?

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