Night Shift Help

panda_181 · Dec 1, 2001

Well, this is how I do it, but lots of people have their won way of doing things. The first night shift, I stay up late the night before and get up early, then in the afternoon I go back to bed...usually for about 4 hours I try for, but it depends on how much sleep you want...you can do more or less. Then after that night, I come home and go straight to bed and then sleep for about 8 hours. Then I'm ready for the next night. Some people like to stay up when they get home from their nights. But I find that the nurses who have worked nights for years and years don't sleep as much during the day as I do. I have no problem getting to sleep during the day, so I take advantage of it. If you have a noisy house, just get some earplugs, they can help you get to sleep. Hope this helps!

Amanda :)

shannonRN, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2001

i do what panda does and it works well for me. sweet dreams!!!

Rileycat · Dec 2, 2001

I know this sounds terrible, but Tylenol PMs and Simply Sleep have become my friends. I usually take two at 10 am on my first night in, and wake up at 4 pm (I have a long commute and need to leave by 5:30 pm). The other days, I fall asleep natually. The bad thing about sleep aides is that they make me feel really drowsy when I wake up (even though the package says they won't ). I try to only use them when necessary.

My problem wasn't getting used to night shift. I have a problem fucnctioning on my days off. I try to get back on a day schedule so I can see family and friends, but it is rough. By the time my days off come, I want to still sleep all morning and be up all night. When i was young, being up all night would have been fun, but when most of my days off are during the week, the rest of the world is sleeping...and there are only commerical advertisments on tv. Blah!

I can't advise you on how to get your recommended amount of sleep on a regular basis. I typically only get about five hours of sleep on the days that I work. Good luck.