5 Tips in How To Adapt to Night Shift

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Working night shift can be hazardous to your life. Here's 5 tips on how to adapt...

  1. Paint your bedroom walls black (to sleep during the day)
  2. Do not adopt a new pet (you don't want it waking you up while you sleep)
  3. Stay away from the coffee (you'll end up in the bathroom every hour if you do)
  4. Stay away from the Zombie in room 101
  5. Ignore Vlad when he tells you to drink some of his Hawaiian Punch.

In the spirit of Halloween, add your night-shift tip below...

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Specializes in Primary Care, OR.

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 :sleep:

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I like the night shift... it's hard to sleep during the day, but at least at night I have time to pee lol

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
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.

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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.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

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.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

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.

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If you can, try to stay on a more nocturnal schedule even on your days off. I'm still single and don't have children, so this won't work for everybody, but most people that I spend time are working during the day anyway, so if I sleep until 2 PM on a day off, I don't really miss much. I get up early enough to spend some time outside when it is sunny, I can do stuff with friends in the evening, and I have a 24 hour gym membership so I can go workout at 3 AM on my days off.

I've been a morning person all my life, but I found that this schedule actually works really well for me.

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Several suggestions from one who has been there:

Invest in dark shades and or drapes.

Establish a set pattern for getting to bed and rising.

Invest in ear plugs and sleep masks.

Let persons (family, friends, etc..) know that unless someone is dying or has been mortally wounded do not bother you when you are sleeping.

Let the same know just because you are "home" during the day you are not the default acceptor of UPS/FedEx/USPS parcels, will run their errands, and or are instantly available to watch their kids.

What also worked for me was to eat something *before* I got home. Eating "breakfast" then crawling into bed is a recipe for heartburn and weight gain. If you eat very late in your shift by the time you get home and settled everything is digested. If you must eat something make it light and digestible.

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IsisC said:
Try really hard not to wreck your car on the way home.

I just switched to night shift last week. The first night I worked I had no trouble staying awake, but when I started driving home I suddenly felt really tired. Had to force myself to stay focused to avoid falling asleep and wrecking my car. Never had that problem on day shift.

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The way I cope with nights is adding up the hourly nightshift diff and thinking of something I can buy with that extra cash.

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Would also add a fan to the mix...great for white noise

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
Hotfornursing said:
Would also add a fan to the mix...great for white noise

Yes! I have worked nights for 15 years, and the only thing that really bothers me are the normal daytime outside noises...kids playing, dogs barking, garbage men, construction, traffic...all the stuff that "normal" people do. A fan year round helps some, but I still can't sleep through the loud roofing crew that's been working on my neighbors house for over a week now.

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