Is this what night shift really does to us?

Nurses Stress 101

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I work night shift, and i will have to say, some nights its a breeze, if you were able to convince , fight or bribe your body to please rest because you need to work that night, but wow, MOST of the other nights are dreadful. After working night shift for 8 months now you will think the body will be used to sleeping during the day automatically but I guess with my 23 years spent sleeping during the night like a normal person, this 24th (one) year of my life, isnt enough for my body to adjust. perhaps 23 more years spent during night shift may even things out and things can get better. Yea no way,

On to what this shift does:

I am a zombie to the point of no return. Like, I have forgotten what day of the week it is, and have to check my calendar numerously. Im 24. now forgetful? -___-

I have showed up to work a very few times when It was my night off. It was actually funny because I went in there with my so called "Im excited to work, let get going!" enthused face, my nurse manager was like, what are you doing here? you work tonight? I respond? "It' s monday right? "yea it is, but your off honey"-___- Face switched, "OMG im going to bed, goodnight to you all.

My shins, my legs, my arms, my back, my neck, my feet, my eyebrows, my ears, my fingernails, my nose, my my hair, everything hurts. Not all due to lifting but this night shift is doing things to my body. Once athletic 4 year MVP tennis player, works out full of energy, I now drag myself to do these things.

My affect is so incredibly DULL! Im just dull, zombie, no emotion in my voice, just bland.

Im tired all the time, I eat and feel worse cause now I have to work hard at the gym, which the energy is lacking.

Im 24 feeling about 56, how I came up with 56 i dont know, but I feel it.

I have a new nephew, 2 y.o and I am that energetic aunt, who can chase him all around till HE got tired, but I cant give him my all because Im all burnout from just 8 months. WOW.

I know what I need to do, and that is get a day shift position, not even evenings, DAY! My orientation was great it was day shift, despite the amount of work and things going on, but I felt normal within myself so I was able to do it well. now with nights, I don't do much at all, my skills arent utilized enough, and i feel abnormal.

I texted my sister randomly one morning, and just said "Im slowly dying" and it was no joke, I feel like my health is deteriorating, and I have NO heatlh issues Jesus my Lord blesses me. but I feel SO UNHEALTHY the thought of tis shift causes me to create health issues for myself. But trully I feel like I am slowly dying and thats the sad truth. Sadness, dullness, stressed, worry, feeling physically detached from my body, i tell ya, im slowly dying. its too much.

I can feel your pain! I worked nights for almost 3 years after 14 years of day shift. I changed jobs, then went back to bedside nursing after 2+ years and took a night shift position thinking it was my foot in the door! WRONG! Speed forward two years, and I went to the doctor for severe knee and hip pain, only to find my Vitamin D level was 19! Six weeks of high dose replacement and my level was back to normal, but best of all, no more pain! Also, I found out I had hypothyroid, which I guess isn't uncommon for shift workers. Get your TSH and D3 levels checked. Maybe that might help to bridge the gap til you can get the coveted day shift position. I just got on days, part time, but I'll be working full time hours. It's a sacrifice, but one I gladly made!

its actually the attitude you take whether or not you survive working nights. for me its wonderful. we dont have an easy floor on nights its run as fast as you can till the end no breaks I just never have time and I still have to stay later than my shift end. we have the hardest floor at our facility. days is not easy but just different. My other half is a retired and he is up all night due to chronic pain. There for when I do my three 12s the other days I am on his schedule. I rather work nights. On the days I work I get four hours sleep but I do fine. I prefer the three back to back days or nights. I dont like to split my three days up. when my days are spit up that is the ONLY part of the schedule that makes it hard. if I have my four off its wonderful and if I need to be up on a day to do something its easier to do so. if you work on off one the day you are off is wasted then you work two and of one so that is two wasted days. if you do three back to back you only have one day where you may sleep more but then you have the other three to have a life.

Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

I have always been a night owl, even in my teen years....I would be up until the wee hours of the night, rearranging my room and cleaning out cabinets. Drove my mother crazy! During nursing school, I had 2 young children and a husband who worked nightshift and was in school FT as well so I the only chance I had to get chores done was around midnight or 1am, then be back up at 5am for clinicals. And that seemed to work fine for me. I've always been fine with about 5-6 hours of sleep and can function okay on 4 hours. When I went to work as a professional nurse, I worked night shift and I LOVED it. I couldn't imagine working days; the idea of getting up at 5 or 6am horrified me. Then, I entered into a monitoring contract with my state's BON and could no longer work nights. I got a job as a dialysis nurse and had to be AT work at 5am. Work was 30 minute away so I was getting up just before 4am. I worked from 5am until about 7pm three days a week. That was horrible and I hated every minute of it. Then, I ended up at my current job, where my hours are 7am to 4pm. I get up at 4am, actually, so I can get in my running prior to work. I am at the gym by 4:30am and home by 5:30-6am to get ready for work. I never used to be able to hit the bed before 1am-2am and now I'm in bed at 10pm. I feel better than I ever have in my life and my arthritis, which used to really bother me, gives me almost no trouble. Working dayshift has saved my life and I feel 10 years younger. Weird coming from this former night owl who used to swear up and down she would NEVER EVER work day shift! LOL. But I love it and never want to go back to nights ever again. I'm almost 40 years old and I think sleeping at night is very beneficial to my body.

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