Everyone has a different experience with the night shift. Some nurses are unable to work nights; they feel drunk or fuzzy when they stay up all night. There’s no difference in the amount of sleep received between a day nurse and a night nurse. That number fluctuates regarding the particular nurse, depending on when they get to sleep and wake up before and after their shift, it’s all the same just changing out the A.M. for P.M. Several nurses start working nights, and as soon as they can they move to days, that could be due to family preference, the schedule works better for them, or the circadian rhythm is not right for them.
My schedule includes 3-12-hour shifts a week, 19:00 to 07:00. every shift. On my first day, I try to sleep in until 11:00, sometimes I am able to sleep longer, someday I am up first thing in the morning, I usually try to stay up late the night before. When I get home from work I will eat something small, like toast with peanut butter, shower and go right to bed, about 08:30 or 09:00. Then wake up at 15:00, to give me time to wake up before leaving for work. The morning I come home and I don’t have to work that night, I’ll have a larger breakfast and stay up to watch a television show or a few YouTube videos, before going to bed.
That first day off is where things for me get a little weird, the time I wake up dictates the rest of my days off. In my own experience if I sleep past 15:00, not waking up until 16:00 or 17:00, I will not be able to fall asleep at any reasonable hour that night or next day. I will not be ready to fall asleep until 05:00 or 06:00. Not sleeping a full night gives me three total days off where I either continue to sleep all day, or I am exhausted sleep in cat naps and still can’t fall asleep at night. If that first day I wake up at 15:00, then I can fall asleep around 00:01, and wake up at 07:00 or 08:00, and get things done around the house.
I have since been able to figure out how my body works when working the night shift. Everyone is a little different. One nurse, I work with, stays up when they get home that first day off, exhausted but for them, it’s easier to start their day at that time. I know people who everyday part their routine is the gym, I am jealous of those who can go to the gym in between three shifts in a row, I personally am useless. But sleep for everyone is different, how their bodies respond to the shift in circadian rhythm is different person to person. Do you have any experience good or bad working day versus nights?