Night Shift might be killing me

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Any night shifters here? I'm only 30 (soon to be 31) and I feel like my body is falling apart. I've been working night shift since college (about 10 years give or take). I've gained weight, can't sleep, my joints ache - i feel like a 90 year old!!! Advice?

I've worked nights for about 20 years now and love it, but then I was the kid who read comic books under the covers with a flashlight at night when I was growing up and was a real pain to drag out of bed in the morning. You have to learn how to manage your sleep time and keep a handle on the amount of sleep you are getting. If I have some days off and need to "switch" I might sleep part of the first day and part of the first night. When I switch back I take what I call a "reset" nap in the afternoon before going to work even if I slept the whole night before. If I am only going to be off a day or two and have no appointments or daytime stuff to do, then I stay on schedule. You can do most everything but vacuum at night, depending on where you live you might be able to do that, too. :) And Wal-Mart is open 24 hours most places.

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Any night shifters here? I'm only 30 (soon to be 31) and I feel like my body is falling apart. I've been working night shift since college (about 10 years give or take). I've gained weight, can't sleep, my joints ache - i feel like a 90 year old!!! Advice?

Get out of the night shift.

Did that for years. Maybe this explains why I'm nutty at times.

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Worked 12 nights for over 2 decades. Loved it. And when I was your age nothing bothered me atall. Get off at 7 am and head across the street to the golf course, get in a fast 18, take a nap and do it all over. Or get off at 7 go to the health club. Or get off at 7 take my wife to breakfast. I just made it work. Trick is getting and keeping your activity level up. Come to think of it, I still do all those things and Im 2.5 decades farther along than you.

I wish I was as motivated as you working nights. I felt like crap getting off at 7am. Especially in my microbiology class this past semester. Now that I'm working pm's(occasional 12 hour shifts), I feel awesome. Sleep is never a problem with me working the swing shift. I go to bed at 2 or 3 in the am (after watching my on demand movies or surfing the net) and I'm still getting 8+ hrs sleep (I love my warm comfy bed and my twin cool pillows).

Working 12 hour shifts gives me more time for school as a well. My grades shot up after I quit the NOC shift and that stupid hospital I was employed with.

:idea:

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

I've worked nights since nursing school. But I just recently switched to 12 hour shift and I'll tell you it has been a hard adjustment. I figure it takes at least 6 months for my body to get used to a new sleeping/activity schedule. I find that I do OK if I listen to my body and let it get the rest it needs and try not make myself feel guilty for not doing enough on my days off. I eventually recover and am able to function in the daytime as well as night. It is the daytime functioning that is the challenge for me! I would really like to hear how others manage their lives and make it work, working the night shift.

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Specializes in neurosurgery.

I work nights and love it!

If I had to work the day-shift 5 days a week, I probably wouldn't be a nurse for long. It's too much stress during the day, with the phone ringing, doctors, other nurses and the aides calling for my attention the whole day. Although, I am wondering how long my body will last working nights.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Med/surg,Tele,PACU,ER,ICU,LTAC,HH,Neuro.

I can't imagine working days. Seriously, I'd want a HUGE shift differential to start coming in at 0700.

I wish you well.

SHHHHHH

They may here you.

Isn't it a wonderful kickback for the nightowl to get the benefits of more pay from someone who seems to pity you for getting :idea:to sleep all day long.

hehehe:lol2:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
I've worked nights since nursing school. But I just recently switched to 12 hour shift and I'll tell you it has been a hard adjustment. I figure it takes at least 6 months for my body to get used to a new sleeping/activity schedule. I find that I do OK if I listen to my body and let it get the rest it needs and try not make myself feel guilty for not doing enough on my days off. I eventually recover and am able to function in the daytime as well as night. It is the daytime functioning that is the challenge for me! I would really like to hear how others manage their lives and make it work, working the night shift.

That's what did me in. When I was working 5 8's a week, I felt fine, and got a nice pattern down. But the 3 12's killed me. On my days off I would take a series of naps. If I forced myself to stay up just for the priviledge of sleeping at night, I felt like crap that day and still couldn't sleep that much at night. I was always up in the wee hours of the morning.

I feel much better on day shift now. This is after working 13 years of nights. I didn't realize how fatigued I chronically was, until I starting sleeping at night again.

God love the night shift workers, we need you for sure.

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My first nursing job was 8 hr evening shifts, and it was soooo depressing, I was never home when my family was. I went over to nights and that was sooo much better. I've done 12's as day and night shift, and I've found working nights is im-pos-si-ble if your nearest and dearest aren't considerate of your sleep.

I hope you find a solution. Good luck.

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Specializes in Pain Management.

I just started orientating in the ICU on nights as a graduate nurse and last week, I ended up working 6 12-hour shifts in 7 days [different calendar weeks so no OT...sigh]. Luckily, I have worked 60 hour weeks and night shifts before, so I tried what worked in the past:

Cardio - 30 minutes of moderate-to-high intensity cardio [75-85% of max HR] prior to shift.

Meal Replacements - 2 high-quality MRP's; 1 for on the way to work, the 2nd at 400.

Meal - at 230, a light-meal with nothing to heavy so I don't crash.

Energy drink - currently I use "5-hour energy drink", taken at 300.

I get home, kiss my wife and son, then sleep from 830 to 1530. The high-stress from work and long-hours combined with the exercise help me sleep well.

I also try to get an acupuncture treatment and a massage at least 2 times a month [each].

On my off days, I hit the gym to do weights around midnight. Even if I am only going to work 3 days in a week on the night shift, I don't play around with trying to acclimate to days then back to nights. It's not worth the stress to the body. As for my family, I am up and ready to cook dinner when they get back home if it is my night off.

On the plus-side, the hospital cafeteria is closed while I am at work so I am not tempted to put that horrible food in my system.

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Specializes in acute care.

Maybe you're just not a night person. I know that for me, nights would NOT work at all--I'm much more of a day-shift person but can do evenings if needed, but I can't imagine doing nights considering that I notice myself getting a little punchy at the end of an evening shift. I'm glad there are people who actually LIKE working nights because that means that hopefully I will be able to avoid doing so.

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I've been working "A" shift for about 3 years now and I absolutely love it. At first, it was a definite adjustment, but seeing how I'm a natural night person to begin with I was able to adapt quickly. I just have to make sure that when I get home around 8:30a that I block out the sun and make sure that I'm not disturbed or I will not be able to fall back to sleep. When I wake up, I turn on all the lights making it an "artifical" sun-rise. I try to eat well... though living at home it's not too easy. I don't exercise as much as I should and my doc wishes that my cholesterol was a little lower, though it is still in the normal range...

The only hard part is that on my days off I often have to bounce back and forth from being up all night to being up all day... that is the only thing I hate about. I end up sleeping extra hours than I should on monday/tuesday morning when I'm off to compensate, but... yeah.

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Specializes in Transplant, homecare, hospice.

HI. I'm coming in kind of late in this conversation, but I work nights and like Tweety, I can't work days. I've never been a day person. I also suffer from insomnia. I can stay awake for 24 or more hours at a time. I have had to make a lot of adjustments when I became a nurse, even though I have pretty much always worked the night shift. I DO take something the help me sleep, PRN. It ends up being QAM tho. It's hard to get GOOD sleep during the day time, sometimes. I don't know about you, but after running around for 12 hours, I'm SORE!

I have a caffeine cut off at 3am. I drink a lot of water and stay away from the sweets while working. When you come home, stretch, do things that relax you. Sometimes I take a tylenol before I lay down. I bought a new bed which has helped a lot. It's a sleep number bed. Sometimes I come home with a sore back and pump the bed up high for more support and other days, I let the air out to be cradled in a mattress. I know a lot of nurses that take OTC and Rx meds for sleep. Changing diet can help a lot. Always make sure you get adequate amount of sleep. 3 or 4 hours is NOT enough for 12 hours of running with your head cut off. Anyway...I don't know if that helps any.

Best wishes to you!

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