Why So Many Unhealthy Nurses?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Are you unhealthy?

I am still a student and today our instructor was telling us about nurses being one of the most unhealthy groups overall with weight issues, etc. She said "The docs get it and try to be healthy but the nurses dont seem to grasp the health concept themselves."

WHY?

I am curious for personal reasons (my own health sucks! but want to be healthier in future) and also thinking of doing this subject as my senior project/presentation in sort.

What causes them to be so unhealthy and what can be done to change this? Who is taking care of us? Are we destined to take care ourselves last?

Specializes in Med/Surge, Private Duty Peds.

how about being a full time nurse working 11-7, not getting to eat or a break, foods on the go, hard to decide at 8pm what to eat at 2am. then there's the whole insominiac problem of not getting quality sleep in the day light hours. our bodies tell us we are suppose to sleep at night not day time.

then there is being a full time mom, wife, house-wife never ending chore list.

you know the laundry, doc appts for the kid, pets to the vet, bills to pay and reading allnurses!

too danged tired on my off days to exercise, just want to try and relax, catch up on sleep, but got to run errands, buy the food, etc, etc,. bp meds that cause weight gain, one of the side effects, see a never ending cycle.

now off to try sleep!

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A hospital here doesn't have a built in 30 minute lunch time for 11-7. WTH? The feeling is that it's the middle of the night, and who eats in the middle of the night? Sorry, but it isn't the middle of MY night. It's my 'daytime'.

Can you imagine the uproar if day shift were told they couldn't have a lunch break and they were expected to wake up in the middle of their night to eat?

Good Lord.

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I am always given lollies and bicky's etc... from residents and if I say no thank you they may get offended!! Also night shift doesn't help, I like to eat after work at night, it unfortunatlely helps me to destress!

;)

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Is there really proof that nurses are more unhealthy than the general public?

And what age group of nurses?

I'm skeptical.

steph (I'm taking stats);)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Getting addicted to allnurses.com does not help either....now I read your post instead of doing some excercise....another excuse;)

hehehe..........how true.

We all are posting excuses. I certainly can eat better and exercise more, and it's convenient to come up with all kinds of excuses.

I do agree that after a stressful shift I'm sometimes too tired and stressed, but that's the time I should exercise the most. I really feel for those who work a stressful shift and then have kids and other obligations. Gotta love ya for that.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Is there really proof that nurses are more unhealthy than the general public?

And what age group of nurses?

I'm skeptical.

steph (I'm taking stats);)

I'm skeptical too and really don't believe it.

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Is there really proof that nurses are more unhealthy than the general public?

And what age group of nurses?

I'm skeptical.

steph (I'm taking stats);)

When I read unhealthy, I interpreted it as overweight.

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Well, I know researchers have been following a group of nurses for something like 40 years. Part of the controversy regarding hormone therapy came from them.

But we are talking a huge population with many variances . .(ah, stats rearing it's ugly head).

http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/

steph

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Psych..

You guys are really making me feel guilty now....lol

I was off all day and I got my self a huge In and Out burger....now I am looking at the burger and the threadmill which is standing beside me....

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When I read unhealthy, I interpreted it as overweight.

really?

i thought of overweight, chronically stressed, htn, bad habits, etc.

and given the stressors of our job, compounded w/the strain of rotating shifts/nocs, i wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn this is true.

but you're right in your thinking that stress situation = stress eating.

food is a comfort for so many.

leslie

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
You guys are really making me feel guilty now....lol

I was off all day and I got my self a huge In and Out burger....now I am looking at the burger and the threadmill which is standing beside me....

In-and-Out Burger restaurants...I sure miss their tasty cheeseburgers and Double-Doubles. That's one of the things I truly miss about living in California.

Don't feel guilty...endulge in that In-and-Out burger!

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I dunno, seems like Americans as a population are becoming more overweight and less healthy. I'm not surprised to see that nurses (nurses in the USA, that is) are just regular folk. ETA: nurses everywhere are regular folk. I just mean nurses here are following the gen pop trend.

I will not lie. I could stand to shed about 30 or 40. I've got about 15 off so far and am still working on it.

My barriers (NOT excuses!) are:

working nights, my sleep is the biggest priority. I can never get enough, it seems.

when I'm not working, I want to REST. Not exert myself.

I love to eat sweet things. It really is an addiction, and it's a hard one to break, because it's perfectly legal and society doesn't look down on food as much as it does other vices.

That said, it's me that has to make the change. Blaming other people and other things won't help. Watching lots o' weight loss stories on Oprah today motivated me. (don't usually watch her, but for whatever reason dh had the tv tuned in....;) )

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