Feel like ----.

MollyJ · Sep 6, 2002

Prioritize sleep; don't do or plan things during your best sleep time

Darken your sleeping room as much as possible

Take the phone off the hook or turn off the ringer in your bedroom

Avoid caffeine during your shift so that you can have a more natural sleep cycle

SOME dyed in the wool night shifters stay on the schedule even on days off. My body died to sleep at night, so I did

Some people experiment with eating and find life is better if they don't eat on shift; others eat lightly. I ate to stay awake so I gained weight on nights.

Be shameless and put in for your preferred shift IMMEDIATELY

You are actually trying to make a u turn in your circadian rhythms right now, so it is a lot like jet lag. Your body is just screwed up. I frankly think that it takes a little more than 4 to 6 weeks to adjust but when I'd been doing it a year and a half and wrecked my car x3 I finally realized it wasn't going to be for me.

Best of luck.

Dr. Kate, BSN, RN · Sep 6, 2002

Two days isn't near long enough to tell whether or not you're going to like and adjust to working nights. Give it time and follow the suggestions that have been given here.

When I was working nights as a young nurse I used to obsess on sleep. Everything was about sleep. If I wasn't asleep I worried about getting to sleep, not getting enough sleep. In later years I stopped obsessing and slept a bit better. But I'd have killed to get 6 hrs sleep. I still remember the day I slept 10 hrs. It only happened once. It was wonderful.

I loved working nights. Nurses keep away the bogey man at night. In other words, we are there to prevent all the bad things that can happen when no one else is looking after the patient but us. I have always felt patients who need a nurse need them so much more t night. It's a special time to do nursing. I also like the relationships that grow up among night nurses. In small hospitals you need and depend on each other so much. The nurses I care for the most date from my years on nights.

I guess that's part of the reason when I get disgusted with my dysfunctional boss, I think about going back on nights in spite of the fact I sleep so poorly during the day.

NurseDianne, ADN · Sep 6, 2002

:eek: It does get easier hon! At least for us "NIGHT OWLS". I love night shift. Work from 7a-7p. After work, I (we) my husband works the same shift, eat breakfast, relax. 3 mornings a weeks we attend classes. I get home around 2:30 on those days. I sleep for a few hours then go at it again. I don't require alot of sleep 4-5 hrs at most. Sometimes if I'm really tired I lay down an hour before school for the POWER NAP. Does wonders for me

I do try to keep my schedule where I don't work the night before class but it doesnt' work like that most of the time.

Other days, I eat, come home, shower and hit the sack, which is then my honey's and my time.......:imbar :kiss for a little while, great sleep aid.........

Then we sleep until 1. Up and at em', time for my daughter to get home by 4 and I'm wide awake.

But, you either love nights or hate them. I wouldn't change for the world. WE are one big happy family on our shift.

lovebigdogs · Sep 8, 2002

I have been working nights since I graduated college-2.5 yrs ago. I do it becuase I like being home with my kiddos during the day and being able to drive them to dance class and soccer. I cannot say that I am used to nights...I am always tired and sometimes cranky(at least my husband thinks so). Thank goodness I only work 3-12s. I couldn't do it otherwise.:)