sleeping disorder on night shift

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Just wondering how many of you have difficulty sleeping during the day when you are working nights? I have just started a new job and have been scheduled to work nights only (in violation of my union contract) since May. The schedule isn't expected to change until some time after the middle of Sept. I have always had great difficulty sleeping during the day, but lately things are worse then ever. I have tried everything except Rx meds. I am running on 3-4 hours sleep a night for months now. Any suggestions? I block out the light, have used ear plugs, tried relaxation tapes, taken melatonin, dimenhydrinate etc.Help...............I don't want to develop an addiction to hs sedatives.

I've been on night shift for over five months now, three nights a week. And I have little kids and husband who are on the opposite schedule. I switch back and forth between day and night sleep.

I had a very VERY hard time getting used to sleeping during the day but it's finally getting easier. It takes a lot of time and trial and error to figure out what exactly works for you.

For me it was to get everyone out of the house. At first I had a baby sitter in the house taking care of the kids while I slept. It absolutely didn't work and I was suffering. Even on Ambien, with balck out curtains and a fan for noise and temperature control. Every little peep of my kids would wake me up. I guess it was motherly instinct that wanted me to be up with them and knowing what they're doing, why they're crying, what they're talking about at any given moment. Finally I gave in and started to send them to day care. It was well worth the money. All of a sudden I started sleeping like a baby and was able to even get off of the Ambien without any difficulty. Now I'm actually starting to enjoy my day time sleep when I have the appartment all to myself... I still take Melatonin to supplement the lack of the natural melatonin, that one might produce on day time sleep, (plus it makes you sleepyer) and 50 mg of Diphenhydramine, but no more sedatives. I also stick to the black out shades and fan... couldn't sleep without them.

To switch back and forth between day and night sleep, before my first shift, I just try to take the day easy, try to get in a little nap before the shift or at least spend the afternoon laying on the couch. Caffeine helps me through the first night and being so tired in the morning also helps the sleep. Then after my last shift is over, I just take at least one, sometimes two 1 to 2 hour naps during the day, wich helps me making it until my first night off and not have a very miserable day...

I hope this helps someone. Five months ago, reading advice from all of you helped me to geth through my first days (weeks, months) and not give up and quit.

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3am!!! to 3pm is the DAY shift!!! What a horrible shift! What time do you go to sleep/get up then?

On the flip I work 7pm-7:30am and am salivating at the idea of a 3pm-3am shift. That would be PERFECT!!!

Melissa

I tried nights when I had my baby 4 years ago - came back part time. We work 3 - 3 shifts here so my shift was 3 p.m to 3 a.m. It didn't work for me at all. Changed back to day shift 3 a.m. to 3 p.m., also part-time. btw - I'm never working full-time again. :D

It is funny because I'm not a morning person and love to stay up late but at work I would be soooo sleepy by about 11 p.m. Weird. Plus, it is boring usually on p.m.'s and there is alot of food around - not good.

I don't have much advice except I know that one of the night shift RN's kept the same schedule all the time . . .she stayed up until 3 a.m. and slept during the day on her days off. Blackout curtains. Fan in the room for white noise. Consistency was the key for her - but then she wasn't married and didn't have kids.

steph

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I have been working midnights for 7 1/2 years. I am pretty used to it now. I work two 12 hour shifts (7pm-7am), and two 8 hour shifts (11pm-7am). It is nice to have than more than one consecutive day off when on midnights.

As far as my sleep/wake cycle, I usually sleep in during the morning, and wake up noonish, if I did not work the previous night. I also stay up late typically on nights I have off.

Everyone is different, and some people may have trouble adjusting to midnights. Personally, on the occasion when my hospital has a seminar or a class day, which is usually 8am to 4pm, I have trouble staying awake after lunch. That's just how my sleep/wake cycle is after working nights for so long.

I would find the swing shift difficult. Where I work we are given the choice of what shift to work. Days is typically in highest demand, and there can be times when there is a waiting list for days which would go first to the higher senority staff if they wanted to go to days.

ChevRN

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Hey Y'all

Been the night nurse for 25yrs now. When kids were in school it was perfect, could be awake and pick 'em up from school, have all afternoon to be Soccer/Track Dad. Love the 7p-7a shift.

Two things work for me. I work long strings of nights (7 in a row, more if I'm on the insane pursuit of the world's record paycheck). Then I have 7 days off in a row to transition to daytime life. I need that because the hard part for me is trying to avoid being up all night and sleeping all day when I'm not working.

Maybe this should be a MaleNursesForum item, but most guys that I've worked with over the years do what I do. Go home in the morning, have a drink. There's quite a few stories about the looks you get from the neighbors as you stroll around the back yard at 0830 in pajamas, beer in hand.

80 proof spirits is my friend.

Degenerate Ol' Papaw John

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No need to make it a male nurse thing papawjohn, I do the same thing working nights and can accomplish any daytime task I need to.

I don't frequently have an after work drink but when I do........very odd looks from any observer.

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Thankyou for your advice. I'm starting to think I'm just one of those prople who just can't hack nights (i'm no spring chicken) It doesn't help that I live in the "great north" in cottage country-the beach is out my back door. I've tried most of the aforementioned suggestions with little success. My usual routine is to wear sunglasses for the drive home-in bed by 0800-up @ 1100-take dimenhydrinate out of desperation-go back to bed @ 1145 and sleep until 1400 @ which time I totally give up. Everyone else I work with works 4 weeks days-2 weeks nights except me (straight nights from May to Sept) I just got hired fulltime (was part time) and I guess I have the least senority. My union wants me to file a grievance. They say I will follow the regular master schedule starting sometime in Sept-but geeze-this is killing me!!!!

...I also found that it's all about psychology too. Before you're supposed to go to sleep after your shift, don't think "sleep", (it makes me anxious and stressed when I put pressure on myself to fall asleep), think "feel good" and "calm and comfotable" instead. Try not to think about work, children, chores or whaterver else makes you allert and stressed out. Rread a nice book, or maybe watch a little bit of something on TV. That usually knockes me out within half an hour.

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I am usually exhausted so don't have trouble falling asleep after the night shift but the best sleeping pill for me is reading the ol' Med-Surg textbooks in bed in a room with only a reading light or candle for light. Knocks me out every time!

Melissa

...I also found that it's all about psychology too. Before you're supposed to go to sleep after your shift, don't think "sleep", (it makes me anxious and stressed when I put pressure on myself to fall asleep), think "feel good" and "calm and comfotable" instead. Try not to think about work, children, chores or whaterver else makes you allert and stressed out. Rread a nice book, or maybe watch a little bit of something on TV. That usually knockes me out within half an hour.
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In a post similiar to this on another thread, I just posted how I learned to adjust to steady night shift. I sleep from 3 to 9 pm, get up, have breatfast and then go to work. I have lunch at work and supper when I come home from work.

I've just turned my body's clock around so that I do like any person working dayshift does...I get my sleep in the hours before I go to work, instead of sleeping right after I get home.

Works great for me because I still have energy left at the end of my shift...

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Hey there,

I don't know if this is helpful at all, but if you are unhappy with working all nights and it is, as you mentioned, a breach of your union contract, you should discuss this with your unit manager and let her/him know that you are unhappy with your schedule and point out that it is against union contract. If she/he fails to make any changes or dismisses you, then you need to take it up with your union representative, or put in a greivance with your union who will ensure that you rights are defended.

Best of luck!

CanadianNurseAbroad

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Just a little FYI, maybe it helps someone- I used to have trouble waking up, esp with those black-out curtains so I set a light timer to turn on my lamp a minute or two before my alarm went off, seemed to help me.

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