NWR- night shift workers

Benadryl, black out curtains, eye mask and ear plugs. And setting aside 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

I have been working midnight to 8 for the past year and had trouble with it for the first few months. I go home and go straight to sleep. Blackout curtains are going to be your best friend. I suggest some sort of white noise to block out outside noises that you would typically hear (garbage truck, mailman, lawnmowers.)

Luckily, I just got a first shift job because I don't know how much longer I could have taken 3rd shift. It is super unhealthy for your body and we were going to put starting a family on hold until I switched.

ETA: I had no problem seeing family or friends. I slept while they were at work and vice versus.

I've worked night shift for 2 years and counting, it's SUPER hard to manage time with friends. You have a totally opposite sleep scedual as them, so you will only be able to talk/hangout on your days off if that. But besides that you will get used to your sleep scedual. You will just never be able to do anything once you get off work, you'll be exhausted and want to go straight to bed. You will honestly be tiered 24/7 not gonna lie. But it's manageable!

I worked as a nurse for 10 years on varying shifts. Congrats on your first job! You'll love it! I used to go to bed at about 9 am, and wake up at 6. I'd go to the gym, have my life and then go to work. If you go into working 12 h nights, like 7 pm -7am, then you'll get 2.45 h break which if you combine it all makes a great nap. One group would sleep from 1-3 and the other from 3-6. Sadly I would use the time to study medicine. : /

Man Jacks, I'm super jealous. I don't know where you're from but where I work we get a 15 minute break and a 30 minute lunch.

I've been working nights for 2 years and mostly love it. The atmosphere is better, the people are generally really fun, and there's so much learning you can do! I'm generally tired but not so much that I can't function. Drink tons of water and bring light snacks. I find I can't eat much overnight. You'll do great and congrats!

When I worked 12 h nights, if you combine all coffee and lunch into one break it's 2.45 h. So you really get no break from 7 pm until midnight or 3 am if you want to go that route. Having said that, I left nursing after 10 years to do medicine, so sleep was not on the table after that.

I loved nights! I did my best linen cart surfing at like 2 am!

^^ I'm lucky if I get 10 mins to eat most days.

I'm actually a fan of nights, even though it can be difficult to adjust. The first night is usually the worst. But I'd recommend going straight home and using good sleep hygiene. Black out curtains, turn off your phone since ppl will call during the day, have a shower/ bfast and head to bed. If your back the next night try your best to stay in bed till at least 4. When I'm off I sleep till 3ish then go run some errands. Some ppl say that working out before going to bed helps them too (which is surprising). Good luck!

Right Chelsea! Don't get it in your head that you'd be able to take a nap/get a long break OP. I've never heard of such a thing.

Kills me to see so many nurses still don't get breaks! We get an hour which I am so thankful for!!

Night shift can have its benefits. Less oversight from management, more "downtime" (if people sleep the way they're supposed to).... and I feel like the night shift crew (at least where I work) is always a pretty cool crew.

You couldn't pay me to work assisted living/rehab/nursing home.... so good for you. That's rough.

Lindsey, really? Maybe it's a Canada thing? It's the same all over various hospitals with 12 hour nights. Weird.