When I first became a nurse I expected to work nights. I was told that I was one of the fortunate new grads who actually got a day shift position. At the time, I didn’t really care, I was just happy to have a job. I ended up working days for six years. I didn’t go to nights until I started working as a travel nurse. Since I knew how busy dayshift could be, I didn’t want to fumble around with a new charting system on top of everything else. Nights seemed to be the obvious choice. I didn’t know how much I would love it.
I’m not going to lie, it took me a little while to get completely adjusted to nights. I would sleep because I was going to work and then sleep because I went to work. I didn’t know how to schedule myself so that I wasn’t just sleeping all the time. Night shift definitely requires preparation. I’m going to share some of the things that I do the both prepare for and get through night shift.
Before my first shift
- Sleep In: I sleep in as long as I am able, usually until about 10am. Once I get up, I have a pretty chill day. I don’t take a nap because that usually makes me more groggy.
- Take it Easy: I try not to do anything that will take too much energy. I will go to the gym and do some small chores around the house, like laundry or meal prep.
- Devotional and Journal: This is the beginning of my night. I usually start a few hours before my shift. I will read my devotional and write in my gratitude journal, as well as spend some time in prayer. This has been a game changer for me. I definitely feel the difference in my shift when I miss this time.
- Get dressed: This is the easy part. Most of my contracts require me to wear navy blue scrubs, so I just have to decide what shoes I want to wear and I’m done!
- Pack lunch: I try my best to meal prep so that I don’t waste a bunch of money. So I will pack my lunch and make coffee at home. However, if I am not able to, I definitely leave early enough to pick up my mobile Starbucks order and head to the closest drive thru.
- Leave Early: I have a thing about being late to work. I usually get to work 30 mins early. This is time for me to sit in my car and gather myself before I go inside.
During the Shift
- Sip my coffee: I usually sip my coffee through the night, especially the first night since I didn’t sleep. If I drink my coffee too fast, I end up with a lot of energy at the beginning of the shift and then I crash at 2am.
- Drink water. I know we like to joke about running on coffee, but we definitely need to drink water. I try to take a sip of my water each time I take a sip of my coffee, or whenever I go into the break room. If you drink enough water, the need to go to bathroom will also keep you up through the night.
- *Nap: So I put an astrik because I don’t normally take naps during my shift. But there are times where I am exhausted, and absolutely have to in order to make it through the rest of my shift. Its amazing what a 15 min cat nap can do (on your break, of course).
On Consecutive Nights
- Workout: I know what you’re thinking… “You’re crazy to workout after working night shift!” I have heard that so many times. It just works better for me that way. Maybe it tires me all the way and I sleep better. All I know is that I am not going to wake up before work and go. Whether I go on an hike or to a class at OrangeTheory, I try to get some type of activity in before I go bed.
- Shower: Time to get so fresh and so clean, clean.
- Go to Sleep: I try to be in the bed by 10:30am. I don’t find myself sleeping as long during the day as I do at night. So if I can be in the bed before 11am I’m doing good. If I go to sleep too early, I usually start waking up around 2pm and then fight to try and get back to sleep. This is what has worked for me.
- Follow steps 3-6 from the first night
Final night
- Go to gym
- Shower
- Stay up or nap: Depending on what I have to do with my time off I may stay up and do mindless actitvies, (laundry, dishes, clean) or I may take a nap for a few hours, and when I wake up I will work on blog tasks or take care of other things that require me to be alert.
- Go to bed early: Regardless of what I choose from the previous step, I try to go to bed at a decent hour so that the next few day can be ‘normal.’
So another crazy thing that I do, because it works best for me, is I try to stack my shifts. I work as many shift in a row as they will let me. This is usually anywhere from 4-6 shifts straight. Before you say its too much, hear me out. Remember when I said I found myself sleeping all the time? What I realized it that if I work most, if not all of my shifts together, I would only have to recover one time. I felt like I would loose days if I worked on one, off one, on two, off one, etc, etc. During this stretch at work I only do what’s necessary. I am able to create a routine rather than adjusting it multiple times during the week. It is not for the faint of heart. It is tiring, but having 6-8 days off really help me get through it.
Some other tips that have worked for me:
- Sleep!
- If you’ve slept well, don’t start drinking your coffee or energy drink until you start to get tired. This will keep you from being caffeine tolerant.
- Switch up your caffeine source. Some nights I do coffee, others I do energy drinks. Not sure if this really works or something I have convinced myself of, but it seems to work.
- Listen to your body. If I need to go to sleep right after my shift, I do. Bump the routine and get the sleep your body needs.
As I said in the beginning, this is what works for me. Your priorities and responsibilities may require something different. Bottom line is that you do what works for you.
Let me know what tips and tricks work for you in the comments!
Leave a Reply