Night Shift Sleeping Woes

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everyone.. hoping some night shifters out there have some advice for me. I work 7p to 8a three nights a week and have no problems sleeping during the day after a shift. My problem is the rest of the week. I wish I could get back to a normal schedule the other four nights but it isn't working out no matter how I arrange things, it seems as though my body has completely accepted the fact that I should be awake at night. Which is ironic cause two months ago (I started nights four months ago) I could barely stay awake past midnight. The problem is that I am starting to feel lonely and isolated. I nap all the time cause I have no energy to do anything else, yet when I wake up I never feel rested. And it's starting to affect my relationship with my boyfriend. I haven't spoken to my friends in weeks and my skin is a wreck. I love working nights, love the people I work with.. but here is it 5 am and all I can think is I should have done overtime tonight cause I am lonely and bored and know I will be ready for bed in a few hours when the rest of the world is awake anyway. Its very disorienting and worse still I think I am gaining weight from eating, sleeping, eating. I feel like I am hibernating :) If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. Thank you for reading this.

Welcome to night shift! ;)

On nights that I work back-to-back, I sleep all day so that I'm reenergized for my next night shift. If I'm working one night but have the next off, I'll go home and sleep from about 830am until about 12pm. Then I stay busy/fight the temptation to sleep longer and then I go to sleep around 9 or 10pm that night and wake up at around 8am the next day (which will then put me back on a "regular" sleeping schedule). Honestly, though, it sucks. Prior to night shift I used to be very active during the day, but now all I'm interested in is lounging in bed and taking naps. It stinks! I've only been doinng it now for several months - maybe it takes longer than that before I'll actually get used to it.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to help- I really appreciate it and I guess it's just going to take some planning to figure out what works best for me since everyone has their own system that works best for them. As far as eating while at work... am I the only one who doesn't even have a minute to pee? :) I work on an orthopedic/med-surg unit where the pt.s are pretty heavy.. not much sleeping goes on, despite what my day shift nurses seem to think.. ha! Anyway thank you all for the advice and please keep it coming cause this has given me a lot of hope that I won't have to spend the rest of my night shift career in a fog. Thank you again, really appreciate it..

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

I don't even try to flip-flop my hours on days off. I was able to do that in my 20's, but I am far from my 20s now!

* I black out my room with dark shades

* I wear ear plugs, (Quite Please are the best IMO)

* On nights off, I go to bed around 3-5 AM. I wake up around noon or 1ish. So I am adjusting hours by only a few hours, not a complete switch.

* I try to work 3 in a row all the time

* I don't care about being in the sun. Where I live just walking to my car after work is enough sun exposure.

I also am able to easily entertain myself while everyone is asleep at home. Why, I can spend hours on this site alone! :D

I enjoy the camaraderie of night shift and also the teamwork seems to be better on night shift. The extra money is not too bad either!

I will admit, if I had kids at home that there is no way I could work night shift. It would just be exhausting.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

These are some really good tips for working the night shift. I'm a new grad that just accepted a night shift position and the main thing I'm concerned about is that life is going to pass me by while I'm sleeping the days away. I love being outdoors, whether is grocery shopping, shopping, or going to museums, so I'm hoping this won't be too hard on my body.

I did most of my preceptorship of nursing school doing the night shift because my preceptor worked nights. It was hard on me and I failed one of my last exams of nursing school due to working 3 nights in a row and having an exam on Monday. I know I won't have any exams to worry about this time, but I'm still concerned that on my days off that I wouldn't be able to get anything done.

Thanks everybody!!

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...the main thing I'm concerned about is that life is going to pass me by while I'm sleeping the days away.

I would say that is not a problem if we're talking three 12-hour shifts back-to-back. You'll have a solid 4 days off in a row each week, and most folks naturally fall back into a daytime schedule on their days off. Might be a little different if we're talking about shorter shifts 4-5 nights a week or having those 12's split up through the week though.

Good luck -- most night-shifters wouldn't have it any other way.

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I work four 8hr nite shifts a week. I come home and sleep from 9-4 then nap again for an hr before work. I do my food shopping on the way home from work and try to go out sometimes in the late afternoon. On my nites off I try to get up around 2 and get dressed. Working nites does take alot of your life. You have to make sleep very important part of life and if you have kids they need to be a priority. It is hard but doable not sure how long I will remain but I do prefer nite shift vs days. Day is too much hustle and bustle for me.

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