The job of nurses working as nighthawks around the night, caring for patients and monitoring their health status, isn’t easy at all. Having a hectic work routine drains their energy significantly, resulting in disturbed sleep patterns, burnout, and ever-lasting fatigue. Moreover, they are at more risk of facing health complications like stroke, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, and other major ailments like cancer as well. Despite having a low footfall during the night, nurses having night shifts have almost the same work routine as the day ones. We at SNUG360 fully comprehend the role that night shift nurses play in caring for patients and accordingly offer the best compression stockings for nurses to help them care for themselves while discharging their duties. As an added measure towards offering them a helping hand, below we’ve mentioned some tips that would help them become more focused and less fatigued during their shift.
1. Plan For The Shift
For nurses going to begin night shifts for the first time, it's recommended to plan for their job role in advance to know how exactly it feels to work during unusual hours. You can establish a night shift routine even before you’re going to join the job. To build this regime, make a list of all the essentials that you might need during your job. Opt for setting up a schedule wherein you will take in natural light to better your brain’s cognitive functions and concentration levels for the duty. You can even do a gentle massage on the legs before the shift starts to get the blood flowing.
2. Opt For A Training Program
Although night shifts don’t look very challenging, they still pose significant physical and mental health risks. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a training program facilitating nurses to learn about the potential risks attributed to night and longer shifts. This training initiative is divided into two parts, allowing the nurses to get due knowledge about all possible disruptions relating to night shifts, including disturbed sleep cycles, poor work-life balance, and more. In addition to it, they also provide them with working strategies to cope with these risks to some proportion.
3. Eat Nutritious Food
Caring for patients doesn’t mean neglecting your health. At frequent intervals, opt for eating small, healthy meals that serve your body with the much-needed nutrition and energy for the whole night. It’s recommended to avoid having meals between 12 AM and 6 AM. Other than that, you can take meals consisting of salad, roasted chicken, vegetables, yogurt, and granola. For snacking, again opt for healthy options like hummus, hard-boiled eggs, and dried nuts, among others. Try your best to avoid unhealthy stuff like sugar-rich products and fast food, as they take more time to get processed, putting more burden on your digestive system, and leading to more lethargy. Have a small breakfast right when your shift is about to get over to provide your stomach with just the right amount of food, preventing sleep disturbances due to hunger when you reach back home.
4. Do Exercise Or Mobility-Inducing Movements
A major concern for nurses working night shifts is to carry on with their regular movements to prevent inhibited blood flow in their bodies. Additionally, they are at more risk of facing musculoskeletal injuries due to factors including psychosocial elements, frequent movements, etc. To ensure you don’t face the same issues, prefer doing a set of light exercises or mobility-inducing movements that you find feasible. Possibilities for it include alternatives such as gentle pelvic tilts, calf stretches, spinal rotations, stair climbing, squats, and lunges.
5. Get Enough Sleep
You don’t want to get deprived of sleep, as it might cause you complications such as a low attention span, less productivity, and elevated fatigue levels. A major challenge for nurses just beginning with their night shifts is how to adjust their sleep patterns. To overcome this issue, take a power nap before leaving for your night shift. If permitted, take naps during your shift as well to lighten up your mood. As your shift ends and you reach back home, try leveraging light therapy by turning your surroundings completely dark, allowing you to get a sound sleep. You can even opt for having food items in your breakfast that induce better sleep.
6. Wear Compression Socks
For years, compression socks have been used as a go-to option by nurses to stay safe from the ill effects attributed to their legs while working night shifts. Having a mechanism through which it provides graduated pressure to the legs, these socks promote healthy blood circulation throughout the legs. This boosted blood circulation keeps the leg muscles in good shape, ensuring nurses don’t face complications like pain and swelling in the legs, different vein-related ailments like varicose veins, spider veins, chronic venous insufficiency, blood clots, and more. The most likable choice of most healthcare experts for nurses is compression socks for nurses 20-30 mmHg compression levels.
7. Stay Hydrated
Consuming an adequate amount of water is equally crucial for everyone to remain fit and healthy. Nurses can easily be swayed over by their job work, failing to fulfill their daily water intake, which results in dehydration. Staying hydrated helps nurses better their concentration levels and attention span and improves their mood and psychomotor skills as well. Moreover, it’s great for their physical performance as well. A common way through which nurses can check if they are properly hydrated or not is by noticing their urine color.
8. Consume Caffeine
You can’t go wrong with consuming caffeine. You have to make certain that you are taking it in an optimum quantity and at the right time as well. If consumed rightly, it serves benefits like improved vigilance, alertness, and psychomotor performance. The daily permitted value of caffeine is 400 mg, and anything more than that might cost you your health. The best-suited time to have a caffeine boost is 2-4 hours into the night shift. Additionally, you need to avert caffeine consumption within 4 to 6 hours of your planned bedtime to have a good sleep.
9. Take Breaks If Needed
You are a human, not a machine. Don’t hold back on taking breaks if required. Doing so will aid you in focusing on recharging yourself to have a productive work shift ahead of you. In the break taken, you can do light stretches, go outside to take in some fresh air or spend a while with your colleagues as well. You can even take meals together that help foster better relationships at work and eventually more productivity.
Key Takeaways
Both occasional and regular night shifts pose the same health risks for nurses. By realizing and understanding these negative likelihoods, they can create a pathway for themselves through which they look after themselves in a much better way. As a nurse having a nighttime work routine, you can follow the above-given tips to enhance your productivity at work while reducing lethargy and weariness. Other than that, you can rely on our brand—SNUG360—as we provide a wide range of graduated compression socks for nurses fabricated using advanced high-quality material, guaranteeing all-night comfort and protection from varicose veins, edema, DVT, and other vein-related issues. The comfort, durability, and effectiveness that these compression socks carry are one of a kind.