How do you stay awake during the night shift?

[Foxfour]

there is a perfect job for me (almost), but it's a night position. what do you do to make sure you get enough sleep with the sun out? when i was a new grad, i took a night position. i only lasted 3 months. i found it very hard to stay awake, but that's because i wouldn't sleep during the day. i guess i must have a strong circadian clock. without the use of sleeping pills, do you have any suggestions? :zzzzz

[kat7ap]

I am sensitive to noise, so I always wear ear plugs while I sleep after working. I also have black out curtains and put cardboard in the windows to block the sun. Keep your phone off if you can. On my days off I usually get to bed about 2-3am and wake up about noon. Doing this keeps me awake and alert on my working nights. I saw a medical show once and the physician leaving the night shift put on welding goggles to block the sunlight on his drive home because he said if he saw sunlight it would screw up his circadian rhythm!

[jprn7171]

I have worked 15 years night shift and it is hard. Great advice in prior posts.

1-No caffiene after 3am.

2-Make sure to bring protein as a food source instead of hitting the candy machines, your blood sugar will dive bomb on you if you eat just chips, soda and candy.

3-Get some valerian root from a supplement store. They also have a sleepy time hot tea with valerian root in it. Very soothing and puts you to sleep without side effects.

4-Get a nice set of black out curtains for your windows and use heavy duty tin foil to block out the light and heat from the sun. A cold dark room is the most important to getting sleep during the day. The tin foil blocks the sun completely and repels the heat. Wonderful little trick.

5-Make sure you eat something real light right before you go to bed so you don't wake up starving at noon and then you can't go back to sleep.

6-Sleep with as little clothing as possible.

7-Take a nice hot bath while you are drinking your sleepy time tea. When you get out you will be nice and relaxed.

8-Turn off phones, tell people your schedule so they will not call. Set your voice mail to pick up after 3 rings so the phone doesn't ring all day. That way if you have kids they will know to keep calling if emergency. Others will think you are not home.

9-Pace yourself at night, make sure you don't sit charting for any long length of time. When tired get UP! Move. You said you were worried about weight so walk around your facilty doing a couple laps, You will be full of energy when finished.

10-If ever you feel so tired you think you might be a danger to yourself or patients tell someone you are taking your lunch with your head down. See if someone can come get you in 30 minutes or buy a portable alarm clock and set it for 30 minutes.

Hope this helps. I worked all night so I am tired and going to get some sleep. Good luck.

[Bobylon]

I drink yerba mate on the job , sleep for a few hours after work, and nap for an hour or so before work .... works for me....

[Chewie_123]

Make your bedroom cool and dark, by whatever means necessary. Phone off. White noise on. I take 6mg of melatonin right when I'm going to bed.

At work, I try and eat a few small meals/snacks about every 3-4 hours. Works better for me than one big lunch (when I get one!). No caffeine after 0200. A nice snack around 4 really gives me a boost.

My charting and other complicated stuff gets done as early in the shift as possible in case my brain melts at a later point. If I have any downtime, I like to spend it being somewhat active, stocking supplies, cleaning, random paperwork or just doing laps around the floor.

On my days off, I try and sleep when my body tells me to. Lately, I've been staying up till 2 or 3 am, then sleeping to 10 or 11. It works.

I've found myself having periods of mild depression in the year + I've worked nights. When that happens, I like to make an effort to spend days out in the sun.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

coffee.