Wake Up! It's Your Day Off.

Updated:   Published

Tired. Just tired. Are you getting enough sleep? Many are not. Look around you: the coworker who just walked into the door she's not getting enough sleep. I don't care how many cups of coffee she drinks - she needs sleep. How has sleep affected your work (or a coworker)? Please share your stories...

Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

I've been recovering from two big ortho surgeries for the past year and noticed that waking q 1.5 hours because of pain wasn't helping my recovery any. I started myself on TID CBD oil and round the clock acetaminophen, naproxen, and ibuprofen, which helped some, especially because the 10pm and 4am acetaminophen was the "PM" version, meaning diphenhydramine 25 mg in q tab, so 50 mg. The first time I woke up and saw that I had slept for nearly 4 hours I damn near cried.

The Daily Calm app is a wonderful thing, too. I have gotten very good at falling into the breathing practice and clearing my mind (it does take a little practice, but the app is a WONDERFUL teacher). When I started using it a few years ago (before surgeries) my bedmate said he was astonished at how fast I would fall asleep. Between that and the diphenhydramine, now only at HS, I sleep through the night. My PT says he notices the difference too, because you need sleep to heal. IMHO that includes healing from a long or difficult shift at work, and by god PT is a long and difficult shift too, LOL.

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Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

When I had my first critical care job in open heart ICU, we did 15-minute VS for the first 8 hours on everybody. I often found that when I slept I would dream the whole dang shift, every VS, chest tube amount, ABG, lab draw, RT visit, turn, family visit, MD visit, charting, the works. When I woke up I felt like I had worked a double and was exhausted.

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Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

I've treid three times to edit my earlier content and for some reason it's not happening. Let's try this...

 

I've been recovering from two big ortho surgeries for the past year and noticed that waking q 1.5 hours because of pain wasn't helping my recovery any. And my thought processes were crap.

I started myself on TID CBD oil and round the clock acetaminophen, naproxen, and ibuprofen, which helped some, especially because the 10pm and 4am acetaminophen was the "PM" version, meaning diphenhydramine 25 mg in q tab, so 50 mg. The first time I woke up and saw that I had slept for nearly 4 hours I damn near cried.

The Daily Calm app is a wonderful thing, too. I have gotten very good at falling into the breathing practice and clearing my mind (it does take a little practice, but the app is a WONDERFUL teacher). When I started using it a few years ago (before surgeries) my bedmate said he was astonished at how fast I would fall asleep. Between that and the diphenhydramine, now only at HS, I sleep through the night. My PT says he notices the difference too, because you need sleep to heal. IMHO that includes healing from a long or difficult shift at work, and by god PT is a long and difficult shift too, LOL.

I feel so much better that I could kick myself for not doing this sooner. No opioids or alcohol involved, and they screw up your sleep architecture anyway. My brain suddenly perked up and made me able to do, well, pretty much anything I asked of it.

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Specializes in expertise in hospital leadership.

I work m-f.......I stay in bed at least 40 hours on my 2 days off! 

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Specializes in Orthopaedic Surgery / Perioperative Manager.

I scrub for orthopaedic surgery, after a particularly difficult day of revision hip surgery I got home from work and sat on the end of my bed, exhausted. 
And that’s where I woke up the next day, feet on the floor, handbag on my shoulder, car keys still in my hand. I had literally just laid back and slept for 6 hours.

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