Not adjusting to night shift

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I started working at a hospital in December and still have not adjusted to night shift. I take long acting melatonin when I need to sleep after my shift and even take a medication to help me stay awake at night (that is prescribed by a doctor.) My quality of life is effected and even though I took melatonin to sleep last night I could only sleep for five hours. I can't find a life/work balance and wonder if I just need to throw in the towel and find a day shift position. Shouldn't I be adjusted by now?

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
On 4/1/2019 at 6:40 AM, nurseontheway said:

I can't stay up all night when I am off. It is just against the norm. I tend to sleep around midnight and have to take long acting melatonin to stay asleep. Even then I find myself waking up early and having to nap throughout the day. I work tonight and only got around 6.5 hours of sleep last night. It is a constant struggle for me and it effects me physically and mentally. My goal is to work during the day but I don't know when that will happen.

How many hours are you wanting to get? I ask because for many people on nights, 6.5 hours is actually really good.

Another question is how do you try to stay up all night? If you're sitting around watching TV, then you're likely going to fall asleep. But if you're active and doing things, you may be able to stay up later than midnight.

I did nights for 9 years and I loved it once I got adjusted to it. It is definitely not for everybody though.

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48 minutes ago, JadedCPN said:

How many hours are you wanting to get? I ask because for many people on nights, 6.5 hours is actually really good.

Another question is how do you try to stay up all night? If you're sitting around watching TV, then you're likely going to fall asleep. But if you're active and doing things, you may be able to stay up later than midnight.

I did nights for 9 years and I loved it once I got adjusted to it. It is definitely not for everybody though.

Yeah, I think 5 hours of sleep is great. Counting how many hours you sleep is meaningless irregardless whether you work 5 days a week 8 am to 5 pm, or just had a baby, or are old and retired.

How you feel when you're awake is all that matters.

I can feel great with 2 - 4 hours of intermittent sleep. And feel like crap after 7 hours of solid sleep.

However I do believe some people just cannot adjust to night shift. Even though I did it 17 years. ?

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I did the practicum on night shift and towards the 4-5am I literally felt like I was drunk lol that feeling is horrible. It was exactly like when you get drunk. It is just awful to go to sleep when there is beautiful sunshine out there. I feel like natural way is to stay awake during the day and sleep at night. I believe that's how humans are naturally adjusted..

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Specializes in LTC.

I adjusted pretty easily, but I put a lot into it. My phone is off, I use a white noise machine that plays ocean waves, an eye mask that has rims on the inside so it doesn’t press on my eyes, and my clock has a blue background so it doesn’t interfere with sleeping. I need tons of sleep. My family knows only to wake me if it’s serious.
I get through the night like any other shift by finishing what must be done and then finding things to do. I also eat well on my break.
My problem is that we only get one day off between groups of shifts so not enough recovery time.

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

I've been on nights over a year and a half and I'm fortunate that I can make it on small amounts of sleep for days in a row. I don't really recommend it, and I'm sure it's not healthy, but as a mom with kids with busy schedules I don't have the option of keeping the same schedule all the time. Nor would I want to, staying up by myself all night and missing out on things during the day would work for me.

I wish I had some good advice, but what works for some people might not work for others, and some people just don't adjust to nights. If you do decide to look for another job, it's an easily explained position, any potential employer would understand that night shift didn't work for you. If you decide to try and stick it out, I second the white-noise, blackout curtains, eye mask recommendations. Good luck!

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Specializes in Med Surg/Ortho.

I started on nights end of March. So it hasn't quite been 2 months. I am a night person and thought the adjustment wouldn't be too bad. Maybe I just haven't given it enough time, but I'm not adjusting well. I'm always tired. I have headaches a lot, my digestive system is messed up. Even my period is all of a sudden irregular. It doesn't help that I can't consistently stick to my night schedule on my days off. I have kids who have things going on. And being a newer grad, I often have classes or forums during the day. I'm beginning to wonder if nights really are for me.

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