Working night shift can be hazardous to your life. Here's 5 tips on how to adapt...Paint your bedroom walls black (to sleep during the day)Do not adopt a new pet (you don't want it waking you up while you sleep)Stay away from the coffee (you'll end up in the bathroom every hour if you do)Stay away from the Zombie in room 101Ignore Vlad when he tells you to drink some of his Hawaiian Punch.In the spirit of Halloween, add your night-shift tip below...Click Like if you enjoyed it. Please share this with friends and post your comments below! 1 Likes
Joe V Specializes in Programming / Strategist / Web Development. Has 25 years experience. Oct 17, 2013 Stay away from fast moving Mummies :) 0 Likes
meanmaryjean, DNP, RN Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia. Has 40 years experience. Oct 17, 2013 True story: I've worked nights for 30+ years. My daughter recently married a man with a 13 year old son, Branden. Before the wedding, I told Branden that since he already HAS two grandmothers, he could decide what he would like to call me. He thought about it for a couple days and then told me, "Since you work all night and sleep all day, I'm going to call you Zombie Grandma!" Just sign me......... Zombie Grandma 1 Likes
HokieNurse21 Specializes in Emergency Room. Oct 17, 2013 meanmaryjean said: True story: I've worked nights for 30+ years. My daughter recently married a man with a 13 year old son, Branden. Before the wedding, I told Branden that since he already HAS two grandmothers, he could decide what he would like to call me. He thought about it for a couple days and then told me, "Since you work all night and sleep all day, I'm going to call you Zombie Grandma!" Just sign me......... Zombie Grandma Too funny:D 1 Likes
OwlieO.O Oct 17, 2013 Stay moving as much as possible during the night. Sleep when you can during the day. I sometimes sleep at my mother's house to avoid the noise in mine. 1 Likes
amberdawn85 Oct 18, 2013 Learn to properly function off 2/3 hours of sleep because you have kids 0 Likes
DedHedRN Specializes in Medical Surgical. Has 6 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 Try really hard not to wreck your car on the way home. 1 Likes
Cali_Nurse_209 Oct 18, 2013 I work night shift as a CNA and attend nursing school during the day it's tough but I have to do it. When I first started night shift I ate a lot of junk food, drank sodas and coffee just to keep me up but it only made me more tired and cranky. Now I drink lots of water during my shift and make my own fruit bowls and trail mix. It keeps me up and energized. I'm thinking that I want to work the night shift as a nurse too but we'll see. A year and a half of nursing school left!!! 1 Likes
That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab. Has 6 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 Insulated black out curtains. Best invention ever. 1 Likes
meanmaryjean, DNP, RN Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia. Has 40 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 I actually bought two tension-type (springy) curtain rods and use them vertically to keep my curtains tucked in. My room is so dark that if I roll over and the clock says 2:30- I have to really think about if it's 2:30 AM or 2:30 PM.I also have two black twin sized flat sheets that I put - scrunched up - on top of the curtains to keep light from coming in on top, and I lay my decorative pillows from the bed against the bottom of the curtains to block that light source. 1 Likes
TrevyRN, BSN, RN Specializes in ER. Has 2 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 I'm dating a day shift nurse and I'm a night shift nurse. Sometimes honey pie gets days off when I'm between 12 hour nights, and is honey pie hyper, full of zest for life, and wanting to enjoy everything the world has to offer. Very tempting, but I've learned not making time to sleep is a horrid mistake! Make time in your schedule to sleep. SLEEEEEEP! I have the luxury of not having kids right now. Couldn't imagine how those of you with kids survive! Hard enough having to walk my dog like a zombie in the morning when I get home!I wish we could get on the same shift - but honey is surgery and I'm nightshift ER. Honey pie only works night if on call. :-p Then it's honey pie's turn to fend for sleep!Those little eye-covers for sleeping - given me hours of precious, bonus sleep! 1 Likes
LifeCrisis Oct 18, 2013 I don't know how people with kids and significant others do it. For me, single, just keep a consistent schedule of sleeping in the day time and it is easy. lol?I don't think I will ever go to day shift unless some drastic changes occur in my life. 1 Likes
Madras Specializes in Primary Care, OR. Has 4 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 I always break night for the first night in a series, that way it's easy for me to sleep the next morning. Then a nap before shift the second night, sleep in the am then another nap before the third night, stay awake and go about my day after that.... Sleep like a rock that night. That way when I wake up in the a.m I'm on the same schedule as hubby and kiddo for a few days. Add in black out curtains and a deadbolt and sweet dreams Edited Oct 18, 2013 by Madras Más info 1 Likes
cecikata Oct 18, 2013 I like the night shift... it's hard to sleep during the day, but at least at night I have time to pee lol 1 Likes
That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab. Has 6 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 TrevyRN said: I'm dating a day shift nurse and I'm a night shift nurse. Sometimes honey pie gets days off when I'm between 12 hour nights, and is honey pie hyper, full of zest for life, and wanting to enjoy everything the world has to offer. Very tempting, but I've learned not making time to sleep is a horrid mistake! Make time in your schedule to sleep. SLEEEEEEP! I have the luxury of not having kids right now. Couldn't imagine how those of you with kids survive! Hard enough having to walk my dog like a zombie in the morning when I get home! I wish we could get on the same shift - but honey is surgery and I'm nightshift ER. Honey pie only works night if on call. 😛 Then it's honey pie's turn to fend for sleep! Those little eye-covers for sleeping - given me hours of precious, bonus sleep! Im in the same boat. I get better sleep with her on that schedule. I sleep while she is at work and vice versa.I also work stretches so she knows that first day is dedicated to flipping my schedule and the last for the same. Has worked out very well for the last year. 1 Likes
OwlieO.O Oct 18, 2013 LifeCrisis said: I don't know how people with kids and significant others do it. For me, single, just keep a consistent schedule of sleeping in the day time and it is easy. LOL? I don't think I will ever go to day shift unless some drastic changes occur in my life. I sleep at my mom's. That's how! Ha! Also, I typically just run on 4 to 5 hours anyhow. 1 Likes
nrsang97, BSN, RN Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg. Has 20 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 I sleep better when I am home alone during the day. No husband home and snoring in our bed, no kiddo in our bed, and no dog in my bed. I have a difficult time when my mother in law is watching my son during the day sometimes. Seriously my mother in law would run up and down the hall playing with him saying "I'm gonna get you" while they were chasing each other. I got her to understand, but jeez. I would go to my mom's but I just wouldn't get any sleep. 1 Likes
Vishwamitr Specializes in Psychiatry. Has 15 years experience. Oct 18, 2013 As a new graduate nurse when nursing positions were very scarce, I accepted the night-shift position (for 4 years) in a local hospital. It was the worst mistake of my life (In retrospect, I think that I should've waited until I had landed a day job). No kidding, I aged so fast in those 4 years than I had in the previous 30 years. I have read that melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland only in pitch black condition and that it is necessary for REM sleep. Most persons who delude themselves of having "slept" during the day have actually not slept in the real sense of the word. No wonder most of them say that they don't dream. 1 Likes
