Hours of sleep before work

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. How many hours of sleep do you get before a shift?

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On average, how many hours of sleep do you get before a shift?

I already voted... I get about 7 hours of sleep.

I'm a rotator. I get 6 hours of sleep before day shift. And 3-4 hours of sleep before night shift. If I do two nights in a row, which I rarely do, I'll get a full 7-8 hours after working a night shift.

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5...6 if I'm lucky. Insomnia is no stranger to me.

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Counting hours of sleep is as crazy making as a dieter obsessing over counting colories every meal. Both situations cause an useless obsession with numbers Losing site of what, if anything, is the problem.

I don't even like to use the word inso**ia.

I can, and often do, get a total of 4 hours of interrupted sleep in a 24 hour period and feel great.

I can (rarely) sleep a solid 7 hours and feel yucky all day.

It drives me crazy all the talk about inso**ia.

How many hours you sleep does not matter. It's whether or not you feel okay during your waking hours.

There is not a direct cause and effect relationship between hours of sleep and well being.

Stop obsessing over a number and you might realize you feel fine.

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

I typically get 7-8 hours before shift if working day shift. Nights are weird because I don't normally work them - I try to sleep in in the morning for an extra hour or two and take a couple hour nap in the afternoon, but I know I end up sleeping a lot less when working nights. Even when I work a few in a row, I'm lucky if I get ~5-6 hours of sleep between shifts.

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Specializes in ED, med-surg, peri op.

I rotate, and we have 3 different shifts. Mornings start at 7 where I get about 4-5 hours sleep before. Afternoons start at 3 so easily get my 7-8 hours sleep. And then nights that start at 11. I don't normally nap before them and struggle to sleep afterwords and only get about 4 hours sleep. So if I do I few nights in a row I feel awful all week. Just completely mucks up my sleeping.

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Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.

6. But I have a long commute. I'm pretty sure I would get 7-8 hours if I lived closer to the hospital.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

Depends on if I am flipping between nights and days. Sometimes 2-3 sometimes 11. Yes my body hates me for it.

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My answer is not listed. It depends on the shift I was going into. My answer would be.. as many as I could get.

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My upstairs neighbor insures I regularly never get more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep, night or day. If I really want sleep, I must go to my car, and it is very difficult to sleep there. However it is not the "blank" neighbor disturbing my peace of mind as well as my health.

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I’m the kind of person who needs 8-9 hours of sleep per night. I don’t function my best at 7 and 6 or less and I will feel absolutely awful. I work 12 hour day shifts and aim to be in bed lights out by 9pm with a 515am wake up if I’m working out the next morning before work, otherwise it’s 930-10pm bed with a 615am wake up. I live 10 min away and start at 7am. 

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On 7/11/2018 at 4:47 AM, caliotter3 said:

My upstairs neighbor insures I regularly never get more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep, night or day. If I really want sleep, I must go to my car, and it is very difficult to sleep there. However it is not the "blank" neighbor disturbing my peace of mind as well as my health.

That sounds so awful. I’ve had some noisy neighbors but never that bad. I hope you’re able to get out of there soon ??

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On 7/4/2018 at 10:31 PM, brownbook said:

Counting hours of sleep is as crazy making as a dieter obsessing over counting colories every meal. Both situations cause an useless obsession with numbers Losing site of what, if anything, is the problem.

I don't even like to use the word inso**ia.

I can, and often do, get a total of 4 hours of interrupted sleep in a 24 hour period and feel great.

I can (rarely) sleep a solid 7 hours and feel yucky all day.

It drives me crazy all the talk about inso**ia.

How many hours you sleep does not matter. It's whether or not you feel okay during your waking hours.

There is not a direct cause and effect relationship between hours of sleep and well being.

Stop obsessing over a number and you might realize you feel fine.

Some people, like myself, notice an association between the number and how we feel. My body is very predictable. Numbers mean a lot. 

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