Night Shifts (tips)

[Liketobake]

Does anyone here work night shifts or have experince with working them in the past?

I am a new nurse and most of the shifts I work are night shifts. I am okay with that because night nursing is a much different kind of nursing then day nursing. However I find sleeping before my shifts impossible no matter now hard I try. I will not take sleeping pills either. Any tips on sleeping?

When I come off of night shifts I can usually sleep 6 good quality hours and then I am awake and very zombie like for the rest of the day.........

[Satine]

i worked graveyard for half a year at a group home for kids w mental disabilities & sleep was always an issue. if i'm tired reading will always put me away but i had to make sure i blacked out the room to sleep to pretend it was night, super heavy throw over the window & such. i tried the audio relaxation cd/tapes on a headset but i'm so bad at meditation i had to make an effort to focus on what the guide said. concentrating made me feel anxious but it might work for you. the guides said to tell your body it will be getting quality sleep & you will awake refreshed over & over.

[NOCHEF&JUSTLOVESFOOD.YUM]

I worked swing shift for three years and to be honest, I never got the hang of it. As far as getting a "restful" sleep ( at my age 6 hours is a blessing) I tell myself when I am in bed that I don't have to go to work tomorrow and the alarm is OFF. It works most of the time and seems to help. It is also hard if your mate is on a different schedule. Good luck !!

[girdhar]

Hi,
:D
Previously I also had been working in call center where I used to work in the rotational shift.
I did find it difficult to get sound sleep.Beside working hour I used to had a lot spare time but as it was not on the regular basis I found it to affect the biological clock and finally decided to leave that job.