I love working as a night nurse, my coworkers, and my patients. Lately, I have been wanting to have a routine. No matter how well you try to set up a routine, it will not pan out. At least, nothing that I have been able to see. I have tried to have the same bedtimes, same wake-up times. I want to strive to have my four days off be in a row and have a life, for at least half the week for a normal circadian rhythm of waking in the morning and sleeping in the evening.
The challenge of working nights brings this into the true light. The coming home from a three in a row twelve hour shifts, sleeping so that you wake up somewhat tire and if I am lucky I could be useful. There are weeks where I am very productive and other weeks where I am extremely tired and can’t get anything done.
Sleep is a constant struggle. I want to sleep at regular intervals and sleep a solid duration of time. It’s been brought to my attention to just be a night person. I have heard of a few night-shifters who completely took to the nocturnal lifestyle. This particular nurse had some vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The other option here for sleep is to go back and forth between sleeping during the day and night. Loss of sleep and insomnia are two possibilities that occur from time to time.
Nutrition is all over the place. Many nights, between the lateness and running around there, isn’t time to eat. Several shifts I put together a meal, and the following morning I left with the meal uneaten. The nights I have time to eat but didn’t bring lunch means eating from the vending machine. I get home from work, I am starved and I tend to eat come home and gorge on a meal. This fluctuation disrupts metabolism and blood sugar.
What other struggle have you encountered as a night nurse?