5 Ways Night Shifters Can Sleep Better Now!

Sleeping during the day can be very challenging for some nurses. This article is filled with tips and ways I have been able to decrease the time it takes for me to fall asleep and increase the quality of sleep. Sleep is critical for your function and I hope one of these tips will make the difference for you.

5 Ways Night Shifters Can Sleep Better Now!

Night shift can be hard on our ability to get a high quality sleep. Sleeping during the day can inhibit our ability to sleep deeply with the extra light, distractions, and noises we may have to contend with. I have been a bedside nurse for the last decade and four of those years have been night shifts. I typically sleep from 9 a.m. or 930 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 330 p.m. in the afternoon. On your days off it can be a difficult to get your sleep patterns back to normal so you are able to enjoy your time off more and not be up at 4 a.m. wide awake while your loved ones are sleeping. Today, I want to share with you five ways to get your sleep pattern back to a normal one as quickly as possible.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle

First and foremost make sure you are eating right by consuming whole foods and minimizing the processed food in your diet. Minimize your emotional stress and have a consistent exercise routine as a part of your health program. This will allow your body to be more resilient to the stress placed on it by not sleeping during the day.

Go to bed once you get home

I know it is tempting to stay up and get things done once you get home from work but my experience has shown me the longer I stay up the more difficult it is to get to sleep. Don't be tempted to start doing things just because you "feel" awake. Go ahead and lay down and allow your body to prepare itself for rest and you should fall asleep shortly after that. If this is not the norm for you, it may take a few times for you to be successful at this.

No exercise after your shift

For some this may be a great time to exercise but it is bad for the quality of your sleep. I think quality of sleep ranks highly over exercising in the first place. They really are both essential but without proper sleep you will eventually not be able to exercise effectively. Exercise actually speeds up your resting heart rate and you want it to slow down which will enable your body to prepare itself for sleeping. I exercise when I get up in the afternoon around 4pm. I usually will go for a walk and soak up some sun rays and then do some weight lifting at home or the gym before I go to work. This will allow you to feel alert and energized going into work. Exercise has also been proven to help you sleep better in general.

Minimize coffee and any liquid after 5am

Personally, coffee does not affect my ability to be able to go to sleep but it does affect my ability to stay asleep. Also, it will make me very likely have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the day. This can inhibit the quality of your sleep and make it likely for you to stay up due to not being able to go back to sleep. Make sure when you wake up in the afternoon that you drink eight to sixteen ounces of high quality water to rehydrate your body.

Minimize use of sleep aids

It is tempting to depend on pharmaceuticals for helping us to go to sleep at our convenience. I would encourage you to not use drug sleep aids since they are really only for short-term use and will not work eventually. Also, the quality of sleep you receive is questionable. Just because you are "out" does not mean your body is in a deep, restoring level of sleep. You can try to rub some lavender essential oil on the bottom of your feet and this may help as a more natural sleep aid.

Some other things you can do are keep the room you are sleeping in between 68 and 72 degrees. Wear a comfortable eye mask and make sure your room is as dark as possible. Have a quiet environment to sleep in with no pets in the bed with you. Keep off the electronic devices before trying to go to sleep in the morning. Finally, let your friends and family know it is important for you to not be disturbed while sleeping and to respect that. They can wake you but only if totally necessary. Following these principles has allowed me to be able to go to bed around 1030 p.m. to 11 p.m. the night after my last night shift. In other words, I slept during the day about six hours and am able to fall asleep a decent time that night and awaken refreshed in the morning. Long-term the best thing would be to switch to day shift but that has its draw back and inconveniences I know.

Hope this helps and would love to hear what has worked for you.

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Surg-OncRN

About Surg-OncRN

Hi, my name is Brian, and I am a registered nurse and health coach. If you are losing your health while serving others then let me help you get it back. You serve others best when you are at your best. As a coach, I will focus on your goals, listen to your struggles, and help you overcome the obstacles preventing you from reaching your goals. I will walk along side of you, and hold you accountable for the goals you set for yourself. Through the coaching relationship I will motivate you to achieve sustainable health and well-being. I am looking forward to talking with you soon.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.

1. Black out curtains.

2. Bright lights in your bathroom/wherever you get ready. Light hitting your retinas tells your brain it's time to wake up (see #1).

3. If it's sunny when you clock out wear sunglasses on the drive/ride home to help you fall asleep faster.

4. Everyone does the "I'm going to have a quick nap before my first night shift" or "I'm going to stay up all day after my last night ahift" method of switching from day walker to night walker, and research shows it's the hardest on your body. Which probably contributes to the various stress-related illnesses night shift workers are more likely to get. Instead, embrace the night shift hours and then move the time that you sleep up by a couple of hours each night on your days off. It's not perfect, but you'll notice a difference.

5. Seriously, stop playing with your phone, your laptop, your TV, and any other LCD for a couple of hours before you intend to go to bed. Try reading a book (either a real one or a Kindle-type thing without a back light).

6. Think about sleep differently. If you have trouble falling asleep, instead of saying, "I have to be up in six hours... I have to be up in five hours..." think, "Sleep is overrated. I'll be fine tomorrow. This has happened before, and I was fine." Don't stay in bed for more than 20 minutes Get up, sit in a chair and read for 20-30 minutes and then lay down again.

7. If you use PO melatonin remember you actually need to take it about 4 hours before bedtime. It has a very slow onset of action. I'll reiterate avoiding sleep aids. That's good advice.

I worked night shift for 18 months (your sympathy is appreciated *ducks*) and spent most of it reading research on how to not feel like I was half dead (that is, switching my circadian rhythms). Then I decided getting off of nights was a better idea. Good luck!

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I use a white noise app on my Kindle or iPhone (whichever one I grab first) to mask the household noises--I set it to a timer so after half an hour it fades off. I have also recently discovered the joys of eye masks.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

Try to maintain the same schedule as closely as possible on days off, meaning stay up at night and sleep during the day. For some people this is not ideal but it's the best way to have quality sleep.

The flipping from nights to days to nights is detrimental to your overall health. When I worked permanent nights I went to bed between 05 and 0600a and woke up between 1330 and 1430.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Blessedly, I never had sleep adjustment issues when I worked NOC. But now some 5 years into retirement, I still can't adjust to daylight 'people' hours (AEB by some of my posting times here on AN). I now have the opposite problem and it is quite problematic for me.

I will admit that I'm surprised about OP's exercise cautions. I thought exercise helped but there's probably some release of some XYZ hormone/neurotransmitter/enzyme etc that's causative. (Hmmm - I wonder what lactic acid does in this issue?)

I guess the premise 'whatever works' is the operative. I preferred TV noise, then and now, in the background. Some channel that DOES NOT interest me - at times, even the Weather Channel can drone on & on. I don't like the quiet, nor do I like the dark - I sleep with a soft low light on. 'WHATEVER WORKS.'

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Specializes in pediatrics; PICU; NICU.
I use a white noise app on my Kindle or iPhone (whichever one I grab first) to mask the household noises--I set it to a timer so after half an hour it fades off. I have also recently discovered the joys of eye masks.

I love my eye mask. I put a few drops of lavender essential oil on it to help me relax.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

I'm going to be presenting at Magnet conference this year about a 'how to adjust to nights' program I have designed that is part of our orientation process. Stop by if you're in Atlanta!

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One thing to possibly consider as well is the use of a melatonin patch

Use of Transdermal Melatonin Delivery to Improve Sleep Maintenance during Daytime

you can find them on amazon.

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Light has never bothered me, I can sleep in broad daylight without difficulty.

NOISE, on the other hand....

The sounds of people on the street, construction, people walking around, music, people talking loudly, etc are all major annoyances to me when I try to sleep during the day. Agree with people who advocate white noise. A simple fan turned on high usually works for me. I have it in even in the winter while sleeping, I just turn it so it's not facing me.

Also, if you do a Google search, you can find many YouTube white noise audios you can play while you sleep. Many of them run for 4-6 hours without loops. I particularly like some of the thunderstorm ones. Nothing like the sound of rain on the roof to help one sleep.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.
Light has never bothered me, I can sleep in broad daylight without difficulty.

NOISE, on the other hand....

I remember getting so angry that my neighbor was running his ******* lawn mower while I was trying to sleep... at 10am on a Sunday... I had to remind myself that it was a totally reasonable thing to do. Eventually I moved into a house in the woods just to keep from going crazy.

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Blackout curtains. Definitely. Also I had a fan going, summer and winter, for the white noise. Sleep mask did not work for me because I am horribly claustrophobic. I also found a light snack helped before I went to bed, and I did take melatonin. On days off I maintained a *similar* (not same) schedule. It helped that I was always a natural night person anyway and never functioned well in the morning.

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Specializes in Hospice, Home Health.

With the Melatonin patch....Has anyone used it successfully? Drowsy afterwards?

What about 25mg benadryl?

my biggest add to the mix - white noise AND Earplugs. Kids walking up stairs would wake me otherwise.

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