Working night shift, difficulty sleeping during the day!

[gloryfied]

I work night shift, I've been working this schedule for about 6 months now. When I get home around 7:30-8am, I am in bed by 8:30, then what felt like an 8 hour or more sleep turns out to be 3 1/2-4. I wake up at 12pm the latest, and I can't go back to sleep, especially when I have to work that night later on.

I've heard people taking benadryl, sleeping pills and such. Not a big fan of putting medication in my body at all. I rarely even take tylenol for a headache, so I'll hate to have to take benadryl every time after work, or sleeping pills just to get some sleep, because come around 1am-4am of my shift, I am SLEEPY! To the point of no possible return.

What do some of you night shifters do to get into a deep sleep, and be well rested enough, besides benadryl(which I may just have to end up getting)-__-

Some of the coworkers on my floor go to sleep like at 12pm-7pm, but when I get home I'm exhausted from the drag between 1am-4am, I miss my bed and just wanna sleep.

[kflood]

gloryfied said:

I work night shift, ive been working this schedule for about 6 months now. When I get home around 730-8am, i am in bed by 830, then what felt like an 8 hour or more sleep turns out to be 31/2-4. I wake up at 12pm the latest, and I cant go back to sleep, especially when I have to work that night later on.

I've heard people taking benadryl, sleeping pills and such. Not a big fan of putting medication in my body at all. I rarely even take tylenol for a headache, so i'll hate to have to take benadryl everytime after work, or sleeping pills just to get some sleep, because come around 1am-4am of my shift, I am SLEEPY! To the point of no possible return.

What do some of you night shifters do to get into a deep sleep, and be well rested enough, besides benadryl(which i may just have to end up getting)-__-

Some of the coworkers on my floor go to sleep like at 12pm-7pm, but when I get home Im exhausted from the drag between 1am-4am, i miss my bed and just wanna sleep.

The night shift isn't natural, and don't let anyone make you feel bad for struggling. As nurses, we need to be the best versions of ourselves on all levels. And if we can't take care of ourselves, we can't take care of other people. I wasn't even given the CHANCE to prosper at my first nursing job, because they insisted I do a week of 7am-3:30pm, followed by a week of 7 pm - 11:30 pm, immediately followed by 4 NOC shifts. When I was honest about how I was feeling physically, I was told I wasn't a fit. Peruse the literature and you'll see tons of support for NOT tolerating what doesn't work. The night shift sucks, even though some people can pull it off for a while. I am in my 40s', active, healthy, and vibrant. Even 3 lousy NOC shifts made me sick and crazy. Never again. I'll flip veggie burgers before I'll hurt myself for any job. Having to take drugs to sleep and stay awake makes you into a zombie. Zombies don't make good nurses.

[mom2kidzz]

My sleep issues got worse and not better. Melatonin and Benadryl stopped working. I tried ambien and still could not get more than 4

hrs of sleep at a time. Next my dr suggested trazodone. Nope, that didn't work either. I changed jobs. Now working a 2nd shift (2:30-11pm). No more sleep troubles!

[iluvnoodles]

I love doing the night shift. It's so much less stress than days. Inrecentlynchanged from 8 hours to 12 hours to have more days off. I'm finding thatbitsnhardermto adjust and I'm feeling even more exhausted. I'm actually looking for a more normal schedule like an 8-5 routine. After seeing that I'm being scheduled an extra 2-3 days on weeks where I work on the weekends, I'm not sure i want to be overworked like that. I've found that 1-5pm is where I've always get the most rest, without pills.

[nightowl93]

I believe if you've tried all the above plus Tylenol PM and Melatonin then my next step is a sip of Nyquil. That's right, NYQUIL!! It has helped and if some of the prescription aides were available OTC, I'd recommend those as well. That's just how I roll. The job is too demanding to go without sleep.