Sleep & CRNA school

dfk, RN, CRNA · Jul 29, 2006

thankfully i only require 4-5 hrs.. so i should be good when school starts.. although, 8 is great, 9 is fine, and 10? well then...

anyway, u must learn to adapt :typing

besides, i thought studies showed that being in class for eight hours a day proves worthless..

doesn't the learning curve end at about 2-3 hours in the classroom??

that's it !!

i'm fighting school (after i graduate of course) :smiley_ab

japaho41 · Jul 31, 2006

Do you work 12 hour shifts, how do you consistently get 9 hours of sleep. I think there is a link to a possible indication of what you might have to endure while in school. I am assuming that to absorb the content it may require a lot of early mornings and late nights.

chansonsrna · Jul 31, 2006

Sleep....what is that? j/k. I have found that the body adapts to a change in sleep cycles after a short time (2 months). I have only done a couple of weeks of clinicals, but it's the very early mornings in clinical that get to some people (5:30 am for me). A classmate and I during the didactic portion of our program got used to the early mornings by going swimming at a gym a little after 5am every day. I also think the exercise helps with the "zombie like" state the OP had mentioned. Even in some afternoons we would do something, ie lift weights, play basketball, any sort of activity will help. One last key to sleep, I think, is to set yourself up to fall asleep fast. In didactic I never studied past 9pm, tried not to watch too much tv before bed (still did get trapped sometimes, making for short nights). Hope this helps someone.

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Jul 31, 2006

I too am one of those people who requires a lot of sleep and I HATE mornings. I was a night shift nurse and it still kills me sometimes when I have to wake up at 5 AM for clinicals. But anyway, your body does gradually get used to it. I try to sneak in little naps whenever I can, and I try not to stay up too late anymore. I sleep in on the weekends when I can. This is why when I graduate I am going to look for a job where I don't have to work 5 days a week, so I will have an extra day or two to sleep in! I would much rather work longer days then wake up early every day.

darienblythe79 · Aug 1, 2006

This is why when I graduate I am going to look for a job where I don't have to work 5 days a week, so I will have an extra day or two to sleep in! I would much rather work longer days then wake up early every day.

:yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat:

Zinobile · Aug 2, 2006

I had many of the same concerns as you expressed. My husband, a naval veteran, is very fond of the saying "sleep is a habit that can be broken". Think of it this way. You may have to change when you sleep and it may not be all at once. Since starting my program I am up late into the night but often I am able to catch a nap in the late afternoon. I fall asleep in places I never thought I'd be able to like cars, chairs, even at the library during studying! If you want it, you'll do it!

Buena suerte,

Z

Outdoor1 · Aug 2, 2006

Hey All,
I'm one of those people that require about 9 hrs of sleep to not be a walking zombie all day long. The thing that would scare me most about CRNA school is not so much the intensity but the intensity combined w/ being sleepy. I feel that if I don't get enough sleep I just can't focus...at all. Did anybody else feel like this when they started CRNA school & did you cope well? Some people tell me that you just train your body in situations like that after a while. I dunno, i have really bad sleeping & eating habits so perhaps if I tried to change them during the YEARS left before I can even truly consider becoming a crna then that would make a difference.

I am like you in that i need plenty of sleep. At least 8 hours to function. If you are on top of your game you should be able to get everything done and still get your Z's. I have never had to pull an all-nighter or anything like that. I think the worst it was for me is for 2 days in a row I went to bed around 11 and woke up at 5. YOu have to be very organized to make it work. You'll see....it can be done.

sandman1 · Aug 3, 2006

Yes......it can be done. As much as it still sucks getting up at 5am everyday..... I AM getting about 7 hours sleep before clinical no matter what. During CRNA school, especially during clinical, i recommend setting a goal for yourself to go to bed at a certain time every night and stick to it. Lack of sleep will show in your performance. Staying up all night doing careplans will hurt you more than help. Plenty of people have graduated with subobtimal careplans( you'll find they are always suboptimal no matter how much work you put into them...there's always something that can be added as long as it's fewer pages than MILLER. LOL!) but very few get by with poor performance. During didactic I never pulled an all nighter either but believe me, my time awake was spent very wisely with very few wasted moments. It would, of course be more difficult with kids.

dfk, RN, CRNA · Aug 3, 2006

I had many of the same concerns as you expressed. My husband, a naval veteran, is very fond of the saying "sleep is a habit that can be broken". Think of it this way. You may have to change when you sleep and it may not be all at once. Since starting my program I am up late into the night but often I am able to catch a nap in the late afternoon. I fall asleep in places I never thought I'd be able to like cars, chairs, even at the library during studying! If you want it, you'll do it!
Buena suerte,
Z

yea, i enjoy falling asleep in places i didn't think i could, too... love the library, nice and quiet... now if you said falling asleep while standing, i would have been VERY impressed.

crazylilkelly · Aug 10, 2006

yea, i enjoy falling asleep in places i didn't think i could, too... love the library, nice and quiet... now if you said falling asleep while standing, i would have been VERY impressed.

when i was in boot camp i fell asleep all the time standing up! it can be done. it was too funny when people would fall asleep while marching & then we'd halt & they'd go flying into the person in front of them! lol

L.O.E.N. · Aug 10, 2006

:yeahthat:

Haha, I did that several times in bootcamp! The DI's generally liked to wake me back up with painful amounts of pushups and 8 count bodybuilders. I was ripped by the end of camp...:lol_hitti

As for the sleep issue. Someone earlier said sleep is an easy habit to break. Once you've been forced or forced yourself into a particular routine, your body tends to adapt. A few of the things that helped me a LOT are:

1. Regular schedual!

Bed same time, wake same time... after a few months your biological clock resets to this schedual.

2. Melatonin!

I can't say enough about how well melatonin aides in falling asleep, staying asleep, getting DEEP REM sleep, and reseting your biological clock. The stuff is a miracle...

3.DETOX and proper diet!!!

Feeling sluggish? Don't eat for for a couple meals or a day or two if you can, and drink LOTS (a gallon or more a day) of water. I also recommend adding a good multivitamin, 1-2g of Vit C tid, 250mg milk thistle tid, 400-800mg Vit E qd, and 400mg Lecithin tid to your fast and with your regular diet. Keep the fried stuff to an absolute minimum, eat more raw fruits/veggies, DON'T EAT RIGHT BEFORE BED. You undoubtedly know what your diet SHOULD look like, doing it is the trick.

4. Excercise!!!!

First thing in the morning if at all possible! It the best time to burn off fat, flush the system, and wake up the rest of you. It doesn't need to be anything spectacular, walking for 20 minutes counts. You know the drill, again doing it is the trick.

Good luck!:wakeneo: