5 Tips for Improving Sleep on Night Shifts: A guide for Nurses
Night shift is hard on your body clock. Long hours, high stress and sleeping while the rest of the world is awake can make good rest feel impossible. At Infectious, we've been looking after nurses since 2001, and these are five simple habits that help you sleep better between shifts.
5 Tips for Better Sleep on Night Shift
- Create the right environment. After a long shift, all you want is to sleep, but daylight makes that tricky. Use blackout curtains to block out sunlight and keep the room cool and quiet. Darkness helps your body produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep. If curtains aren't enough, a contoured 3D sleep mask with earplugs blocks the last of the light and dulls daytime noise like lawnmowers and traffic.
- Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same times, even on days off where you can. A regular rhythm improves your sleep quality and overall health.
- Limit caffeine. Coffee can get you through a long shift, but it lingers in your system for several hours. Have your last caffeine early in the shift so it isn't still working when you get home.
- Take short naps. Keep naps to 30 minutes or less. Short naps improve alertness and reduce fatigue, while long or late naps can make your main sleep harder.
- Build a wind-down routine. Avoid screens for an hour before bed and try something calming instead, like reading, a shower or a few minutes of stretching. Wearing sunglasses on the drive home after nights also helps, because bright morning light tells your brain it's time to be awake.
Build these habits into your roster and you'll find yourself more refreshed and ready to handle night shift like a pro.
Night Shift Essentials
Small things make a big difference over a run of nights. A digital fob watch with a backlight makes obs easier on a dimly lit ward, and our Nurse Wellness range is made for the off-duty side of the job, from sleep masks and a hot and cold gel head cap to a personal safety alarm for the walk to the car park.
