Night shift exhaustion?

Nurses Stress 101

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Hello! I have been doing nights for over 1.5 years. I acclimated to nights almost right away and haven't had any issues until recently. I have no issue sleeping during the day, but I have been consistently exhausted. I get the same amount of sleep 7-8hrs and have been eating right and exercising. It feels like I just can't fully wake up and am in a fog. I could sleep for hours as well. Anyone ever have issues with nights like this after working them for awhile?

I used to work nights for six years as a CNA. You can sleep within those proper hours but not feel fully refreshed. Trust me I know. lol. I realized later down the road that self-care is important. 1RRT, It may be oxygen deficiency. Practice restorative yoga and nasal breathing then spend some time inhaling lavender oil. This will hopefully perk you up.

Hope this helps!

I think, just to be safe, go see your physician for a check up. Sometimes the exhaustion can be more than working night shift.

Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

I went thru something similar after being on nocs for about 2 yrs even though I had seemed to adjust to it & was able to sleep during the day usually. I started having tachycardia & palpitations so got checked out. Nothing wrong but decided it was mostly anxiety r/t a situation outside of work & not dealing well with that in addition to my work schedule. Started looking for other openings & transferred to a day position after another yr or so with a lot of improvement in my energy. Now it's my early days that start at 0600 or 0700 that have me dragging (not a morning person )!

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