How to Survive Night Shift
so you’re on night shift, now what?
Whether you are a nurse or working the graveyard shift in another line of work, night shift can be hard. I have only been working nights for 2 1/2 years but I like to think I have it figured out so I don’t feel like I’m dying at work every night.
When I am off the day before a night shift - I will go about my day as normal and go to bed at a normal time (like 10pm), wake up around 9 am, go to yoga or eat or something and then I will go back to bed around 1-2 pm so I can get a nap in before waking up for work at 5:30 pm. It works really well for me!
Drink tons of water - seriously more than you think you need. Your skin will suffer on night shift and maybe we can convince ourselves water will save us
I don’t drink coffee to stay up but when I didn’t get enough sleep the day before, around 4 am I feel like I might die so I make some tea
Try to stay busy! Especially around the 3-4 am slump that is usually inevitable
On the rare days that I want to stay up after work and not nap at all I drink this ridiculously caffeinated tea (seriously once I stayed up for 36 hours straight with this magical tea)
Bring healthy snacks like almond or carrots and hummus - it gives you something to look forward to eating and gives you some energy
Stay positive! Complaining about being on night shift is not going to magically make you not be on night shift
Buy a sleep eye mask and use room darkening shades. It makes a difference!
Enjoy it! Night shift has more fun and they get paid more