nights

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in med-surg-tele-peds.

ok..I'm gonna try nights again. I worked night shift for about 3mths and honestly couldn't adjust.I wanted to sleep all the time.I felt like I was sleeping my life away.I dreaded going to work although once I was there I was fine. So I switched back to days.There is a flex position open on nights and i would almost double my income, so I'm thinking of taking it. Im hoping I can adjust especially when I start getting my pay check...lol. I need some advice. How long does it norm take to get adjusted to nights?

Specializes in Hospice, Adult Med/Surg.

I think it depends on the person. Some people do great on nights and can adjust their lives so that they stay up most of the night on their nights off and still sleep some during the day and they get into a "night owl" pattern. Some people, myself included, are just morning people and never really adjust to staying up all night. When I worked nights, I found that I could never sleep very long during the day. Even though I would come home dead on my feet, I would still be up by 11 AM or noon. And when I would have a night off, I would want to go to bed at 9 PM and be up bright and early, even if I knew I had to go in that night. I think that if you don't have a family whose lives are on a day pattern it becomes easier, such as for young, single nurses. If you have a husband or wife and kids, it can be really hard to get quality sleep during the day and stay focused all night, because you naturally want to be up when they are up.

Good luck with whatever you do. Just don't drive fatigued! I remember times when I wouldn't even remember driving home after a night shift, and I was driving on 70 mph expressways. How stupid, not to mention dangerous, was that?

It usualy takes me 3 days to switch to sleeping days to nights, I force myself to stay up so I can go to bed at the time I want to the next day, which usualy works for me but it's not so healthy + I'm naturaly a night person, Goodluck on your night shift :)

I"ve been working nights for so long now that I can adjust in a matter of a few hours. Come home after a 12, sleep till about 1p, get up for the day, sleep at 10p or so, then I'm back on days till time for night shift again.

When I switch back, I nap for 1-2 hours before I get ready for work, then I'm ok.

It took a little bit, but my body finally gave in and allowed me to do what I needed to. LOL!

Specializes in LTC Family Practice.

some people can some can't, i'm one of the people who can't i can do 1st or 2nd but that 3rd shift is killer for me. i could never adjust to it and struggled for almost a year and finally gave up. yah the pay check is better but not enough to jeopardize my quality of life.

i wish you luck.

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