Hello, and welcome (or maybe welcome back) to the blog! I’m Sarah, and I have been a night shift nurse since 2013. I absolutely love nights, and honestly you couldn’t pay me a differential to go to day shift (or as I fondly refer to it, sunshine time). There’s just something about the night shift that feels like home for me. I do understand that not everyone shares the same love that I do for the dark side, but unfortunately many of us have to pay our dues on night shift at some point. Whether you’re a brand new nurse/CNA/RT, or maybe you’re jumping into travel nursing and have to take a night contract, I’m here to remind you of all the good that is night shift and help you get through the hard parts!
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Things I love About Night Shift
Night Shift Differential
When I say you’d have to pay me extra to work sunshine time, I mean like a lot. Fortunately for me, the shift differential typically comes on nights. That’s one great thing about night shift – you’re typically being paid a premium. Night shift differential depends on the hospital and the position – as a nurse I’ve received anywhere from $3/hour to $7/hour, but I have heard of higher differentials in higher paying states. This may not seem like a lot, but it ends up being anywhere from an extra $100 – $250 a week, so it does add up. I’ve found the same to be true for travel contracts with most agencies. While it’s not built into the pay package as a differential specifically, if you were looking at the same contract for the same hospital on different shifts, you may see the day shift contract for $2200/week, while the night shift contract is $2480/week. At the end of the day, you’ll be making more money on nights.
More Nursing Autonomy
I also love nights because I feel like I have more autonomy as a nurse. While some teaching hospitals will have residents who are very active through the night, I find that the majority of hospitals I’ve worked at have significantly less physician presence at night. Don’t get me wrong, I love my docs and they’re around when I need them, but having done this for eight years now, I also get a little tired of being micromanaged. Just go get some rest, I’ll call you when I need you to come catch a baby. That’s my personal preference, but everyone is different. I also enjoy that there is significantly less presence of management, administration, etc. at night and you better believe I’ll never be interviewed by Joint Commission at midnight!
Amazing Teamwork
Finally, I just feel like the teamwork is strong at night. It certainly is during the day too, but there’s just something about being used to operating with fewer resources on night shift that make the nurses operate like a well oiled machine. I also find that nights often tends to have a newer group of nurses – probably because moving to day shift is based on seniority. As a travel nurse, I love working with newer staff because they tend to be more welcoming to me as a new nurse, and they are always willing to help.
Night Shift Survival Tips
Okay, I could go on forever about my love for nights, but that’s not what you’re here for! I just want to give you some encouragement that there are some good things! Nevertheless, sleeping during the day and functioning on a completely different schedule than the rest of the world can be a difficult balance. Here are my best tips on how I’ve survived and thrived for the last 7+ years as a night shift nurse!
Do Not Compromise On Sleep
Please go back and read that again because this is the most important thing to ensure that you don’t spend your entire life feeling shitty. You have to sleep before your night shifts, in between your shifts, and after – non negotiable! For a long time on nights, I actually didn’t switch my sleep schedule. I always stayed up late at night and I always slept during the day. It just made more sense for me and honestly I didn’t really have any reason to flip flop. Everything I needed to do – laundry, meal prep, grocery shopping, working out, etc – I could do all of it at night while the world slept. I was typically up by 2 or 3 so I still had plenty of time for errands and appointments. If you think this is feasible for you, try it! It sounds crazy but I actually loved it. If not, then you just have to schedule your sleep and make sure your family and friends know that you’re unavailable during this time, just like they’re unavailable at 3am when you’re at work!
Try to sleep in before your first night shift. If you can’t sleep in because you’ve been on a day schedule, at least nap for a couple hours in the afternoon. You need that to get you through the night and if you start the week with crappy sleep, it will catch up to you later.
Have A Bedtime Routine
Once you get off in the morning, do whatever your normal bedtime routine is to tell your brain it’s time for bed. Personally, I get home and take the dog out, make a cup of sleepytime tea, do my skincare routine, and hop into bed. Do whatever works for you and whatever you would normally do before sleeping at night – this helps tell your mind and body that it’s wind down time and will get you in the right headspace to go to sleep.
Stay Off Your Phone Before Bed
I’ve also set my phone to go into “sleep mode” starting at 8am, meaning that all my calls and texts are silenced and notifications don’t show up on my home screen. I did this because I was spending way too long scrolling social media in the morning, and before I knew it it was 10:30 and I was still wide awake. If you’re the same, I highly recommend sleep mode, or at least do not disturb.
Make Sure To Sleep After Your Last Shift
I know it can be tempting to want to stay up after your last night shift for the week. You want to flip back to a day schedule, be productive, whatever. I get it. But I’m here to tell you that there is nothing good for your mind or body about being awake for 24+ hours, which is what you end up doing to yourself when you stay up after a night shift. Not only are you going to feel like crap, you’re also not going to have the alertness and mental clarity that you want to be able to do things like drive, hang out with friends, etc. Just do yourself and everyone around you a favor and go to sleep. If you still want to be able to sleep that night, at least nap for a couple hours when you get off. Then you can always get up and spend the afternoon/evening with family and friends and then sleep that night and be rested and ready to go the next morning.
Drink and Eat Well!
I know, I know. This is a boring suggestion. But it’s an important one! It is so easy to find yourself on night shift realizing that it’s 4am and the only things you’ve but in your mouth are coffee and snacks from the break room. We love a good food party on nights, and we certainly love our caffeine.
Coffee (or whatever your vice is) are fine, but you have to make sure you’re drinking water too. Bring a big water bottle to work with you and make sure you’re drinking throughout the night. I love this one because it has motivational notes, a straw for easy sipping, and a nice strap that you can clip/unclip for easy carrying or attaching to your work bag.
I also highly recommend getting in the habit of packing a lunch, or at least some healthy snacks for your night shift. If the cafeteria is open at all on night shift, they often have limited (and less healthy) options available. When you’re tired it’s even easier to make impulse choices. Trust me, I am the queen of buying things like cinnamon icing pizzas at 2am. But your body and mind will thank you if you have some healthy options to fuel you during your long shift. I love things like veggies and hummus, yogurt, string cheese, and fruits. They’re healthy but still quick and easy to snack on incase you have to eat on the run. I like these containers for packing lunch – they fit nicely into a lunch box and they’re dishwasher safe. Ain’t nobody got time for washing dishes after a long shift.
Stay Active
My final tip for living your best night shift life is to stay active. Lots of people find it hard to figure out a workout routine that makes sense for them on nights, which is totally understandable. Even if you aren’t a huge workout person, it’s important to get your body moving and stay active as much as possible. It’s good for your mind and body, and it will help you get restful sleep! Play around with your schedule to figure out what works best for you. Some people love going to the gym or going for a walk when they get off work. I am basically a non-functional potato after a 12 hour night shift, so for me it works better to get up early and workout before work. Again, it doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, even something as simple as walking your dog is so good for you. Outdoor activity is even better in the winter months when you basically never see the sun because it’s dark when you go to work and dark when you get off. Whatever you do, I highly recommend some kind of activity at least on your days off, and more often if possible!
I hope you found these tips helpful! I know a lot of people dread night shift, but there really is a lot to love. The most important thing to ensure that you can survive and thrive the night shift life is to take care of yourself and don’t sacrifice what your body needs just because you’re working crazy hours. There is a way to have it all, but you’re the only one who can make the choice to prioritize your physical and mental health!
I also wrote a post specifically about how to have a thriving relationship when you work opposite shifts, so if you have a significant other who is on sunshine time, be sure to check out that post! You can read it here.
If you have questions about working nights, or just need someone to hype you up, let me know! I’m most available on my Instagram, but you can always email me as well! I love talking to you guys so don’t hesitate!
@adventuresofarealgirl 👇🏻
