Night Shift �

[kimj0591]

Hello all,

New here... New nurse as well. I thought doing night shift would be a good start for me. I absolutely hate it. Does it get any easier on your body mentally and physically? I seem to only sleep even on my "days off" which seem to be not many. Also, my whole body is super sore. The being up all night thing doesn't seem to be ideal for me. Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated!! 😄

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

I'm definitely not a night person. However, I was able to adjust to working nights as a CNA and later as an LVN.

I never worked full time nocs, but did work then PRN 2-4 nights per week for 1-2 yrs.

There are lots of threads on adjusting to nocs here on AN.

For me, personally, getting enough sleep during the day was imperative. I'm not one of those people who can stay up for days, nor can I exist on 5 hrs/night.

Therefore, I scheduled my sleep and protected my sleep both before and after noc shifts.

I made sure to go to bed after I got off, and to take a nap before I went in. I'd go to bed around 3pm, toss and turn awhile and then sleep until it was time to get ready for work.

Energy drinks and coffee were my best friends!

Protecting my sleep was hardest when I lived with other people. 1 noise from my kids and id wake up and be unable to go back to sleep! Or if my significant other came in the bedroom, I'd wake up. But once I got him on board and then later, lived alone, I was able to get my sleep.

Basically, when I was working nocs, I did very little besides sleep, eat, and go to work.

I also meal prepped for my nocs so I wouldn't have to cook on those days after I got off.

I hope this makes sense and helps!

[Zelda, RN]

I'm working nights right now. Do you take anything to help you sleep? I take Benadryl for most of my day sleeps. Blackout curtains and a fan are imperative. On my days I work, I go to bed when I get off (so around 8:30), then don't get up until 4-5. I don't eat lunch unless I'm absolutely starving, and even then, it's only a piece of string cheese or some crackers. Just enough to take the edge off. On my days off, I try to get up around 3 pm, then stay up until 1-2 am, and sleep in the next day until 11 or so. You will get used to it!

It's hard on my body too, I tend to get heartburn really badly if I eat after 2 am, so I try to eat before that. I take really light but filling foods to eat. Some days my muscles will ache badly - I haven't found anything to take care of that yet. :/ Do any errands on your days off. Work days are for sleeping and working - that's it.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Yes, I took things go help me sleep. At first Benadryl or Trazadone or both. I later on added an adult beverage to help with sleep and relaxation. I do not recommend doing that! It's habit forming and you are actually not helping your body to get good sleep--though you will fall asleep faster.