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.

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.

Naturespace.com is the best for me. When I need to sleep and tune out my brain on overdrive after a NOC shift or just DH's snoring at night. There are so many options and they have given me many hours of blessed sleep. Just a thought, but it works wonders for me as a nurse who does a night shift every week and always has trouble getting back to baseline sleep patterns after that NOC shift.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
Thanks, I guess that will be better than taking Nyquil OR Zzzzquil and waking up groggy lol then having to sip on energy drinks or coffee to stay awake

I will confess: when I first started working nights (not as a nurse), I often relied on a shot of Nyquil to ease me into sleep...either that or wine. Now, I find the white noise and eye mask work much better both in inducing sleep and letting me wake up refreshed, though I do have some backup Vistaril to use if necessary.

As far as patches and meds go, check with your PCP to determine which--if any--is the best option for you.

I have just started nights and have already started using some of these suggestions. Bought a sleep mask, downloaded a white noise app, as well as a do not disturb app for my phone. I have the dnd app set to allow only my husband or the daycare's numbers. That's a lifesaver. The next things I need to do are 1. block light from the bathroom window and 2. cool off. The bathroom lets in more light to my bedroom than does the bedroom window. It's got to be taken care of. And I've quickly realized that the cool 68 we sleep with at night is much better than sleeping during the day with the thermostat at 75. I don't want to run the t-stat so cold all day so I'm looking at other ways to cool off. I want to try one of those cool gel pillows. Anyone ever tried one? Do they work? I also need to get a 2nd fan for the bedroom. The temp is my largest problem right now.

Specializes in pediatrics; PICU; NICU.

Sunnysland, I keep the ceiling fan running all year round (it's right above the bed). I also have a fan just a few feet from the bed that runs the whole time I'm sleeping. That has 2 benefits: keeps me cool & provides white noise.

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thank you for the tips! I completely agree with the lavender - I have a pillow spray and lotion with lavender that I use regularly. It doesn't help if I start playing with my phone but otherwise it knocks me out.

I recently switched from half days and half nights to all nights (BTW, I loved that schedule - it was weird but worked).

Anyone have ideas on how to fit exercise into their schedule?

Specializes in Rheumatology/Emergency Medicine.

I'm having a terrible time on night shift, I go days and days unable to sleep after night shift mainly due to stress and attending master program, etc. For example, this week, I woke up 6am on tuesday and with the exception of 4 hours on friday morning, I was up from tuesday at 6am until saturday 5am. I did sleep saturday off/on, dog woke me at 8am, then at noon, then at 3pm I got up. Still hung over. A little over 90 hours awake out of 96 hours, not good, I just can't sleep.

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Yikes! I think part of the thing about sleeping after a night shift is going straight to bed and just relaxing. It's easiest when it's still dark out though...

This morning I made the mistake of trying to spend some time with my loved ones and reading before sleeping. I got home from a night shift at 8am, ate breakfast and hung out with my boyfriend and brother for an hour, went to bed, then couldn't sleep and got sucked into a book for 2 hours. I didn't get to sleep until 1pm, was woken up at 4pm by boyfriend, back to sleep for an hour, and then got out of bed at 5:30 pm.

I think you also have to have a bit of a routine too.

Sunnysland, I keep the ceiling fan running all year round (it's right above the bed). I also have a fan just a few feet from the bed that runs the whole time I'm sleeping. That has 2 benefits: keeps me cool & provides white noise.

Hi Sunny realize it takes time to get used to this. Your body has been sleeping nites for most of your life I'm assuming to your body will need time. I've been working nites for 3 months now and still struggling. I've tried the black out curtains, sleep mask, NyQuil, melatonin, Zzzquil, AC, extra fan, etc. I'm still struggling. Honestly it's not for everyone.

My body simply prefers sleeping at nite, it's a nocturnal circadian rhythm thing I guess because my room can be pitch black and still be hard to sleep even though I was dead tired the nite before working lol. I tell people no matter how dark or comfortable I make my room, my BODY knows it's daytime and fights with me lol.

I'm not married and don't have kids but do have two dogs, unfortunately I would love to just go home and go straight to sleep as I'm drowsy but I have to walk my dogs first and at times that alone wakes me up. I can't imagine having a family and sleeping during the day but it's possible.

Just give it time. I honestly just avg 5 hrs of sleep which is bad, the only times I noticed I sleep a full 8 hrs is on Thursday. When you work nites even if you sleep 8hrs per nite you will still be tired during the night shift which is why I drink energy drinks or coffee. During the day time I'll drink a 10 mg of melatonin, I've also bought this new mattress foam 5 zone pad for my bed and it feels like i'm sleeping on a cloud, I rub that baby nite time lotion on my feet, chest and back and that has helped me relax, If I feel pain sick I'll drink NyQuil. Hope those suggestions help you. I also drive home with sunglasses to kinda fool me that it's nite time. I've told people if I was off at say 4 am instead of 6am, I would be able to fall asleep faster since it's still nite but since it's daytime it's hard for me.

Good luck to you if this does not work, see if you can do a double on the weekends to supplement your income that way the rest of the week you can dedicate for school and studying. Best wishes to you.

Sunnysland, I keep the ceiling fan running all year round (it's right above the bed). I also have a fan just a few feet from the bed that runs the whole time I'm sleeping. That has 2 benefits: keeps me cool & provides white noise.

Yeah i forgot to mention the white noise, that celiing fan is perfect for that

Specializes in Medicine.

I've started using the sleepfan app on the iphone, it has a couple of different settings to mimic different types of fans. I recently switched to permanent nights (only 24 hours though), and it's really nice to not have to rotate every 2 weeks! I'll take a benadryl only if I have to work the next night. I was able to sleep for almost 8 hours today and wasn't drowsy at all getting up.

Wish I could keep the pets off the bed... I woke up today with the rottweiler laying across my legs and the cat on my chest :)

I take a warm shower, pour on lavender-chamomile lotion all over my body, and read a boring book. Aside from that, my room is painted dark, with black-out curtains with dark furniture. I also put on earplugs while sleeping. I sleep about 6.5 to 9 hours straight . Fortunately, I don't have a hard time, adjusting my sleeping pattern so when a day shift calls for me, I can easily adjust.

Specializes in TELE, CVU, ICU.

Anticholinergics like benadryl are implicated in dementia.