Trouble staying asleep.

[Katniss88]

I've worked 7p-7a for about three and half years now. I've never had trouble staying awake during my shift because I'm the type of person who stayed up really late even before I became a nurse. I don't have trouble sleeping during the day but my problem is I wake up several times. In the past before I became a nurse it would take me 30 minutes or so to get to sleep but I can't recall ever having issues of staying asleep. When I'm off I try to sleep at night so that I can have somewhat of social life and to spend time with family. Lately because I've worked so many shifts where I work two shifts and then off two its really disrupted my sleep. When I got home from my last shift, I barely slept any. I fought to stay awake the rest of the evening so I could sleep that night but I still woke up around 0130. So I'm probably only getting 3 hours of sleep where I don't wake up. I just want to be able to sleep at least 6 hours or more without waking up.

[Surg-OncRN]

Hi Squirrely18, I understand some of the challenges you are facing and know it can be frustrating. I have done night shifts for half of my 10 year nursing career. There are many things you can do to rest through the night better. First thing I would do is work your shifts together as much as possible, then get back on a sleeping at night pattern.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

You might also try this: Wear sunglasses on your way home. Sunlight hitting the retina suppresses melatonin secretion and drives wakefulness. UV filtering sunglasses worn BEFORE you exit the building until you butt hits the bed AND put on if you wake up to toilet (yes, you'll feel like an idiot wearing sunglasses to the bathroom) helps tremendously. Because it doesn't take much light exposure at ALL to start the melatonin suppression.

(This is the topic of my MSN and DNP research)