- Stay social
- Relax & Recharge
- Time your food
- Drop activities that deplete your time or energy
- Rethink your at-home tasks
- Move your body
1. Stay Social
Keeping up with a social life can be challenging. I would often try to call and talk to my friends on my 30-minute commute home from work; this can be a great way to de-stress after work. You could organise to have dinner with the family or friends/roommates before you head to work; this can be a great way to get in some socialising between shifts and distract you from thinking about your work night ahead. Plan your week and schedule time with family and friends, be proactive with your scheduling.
2. Relax & Recharge
Don’t think that you need to make significant changes to bring balance back into your life. It can be as simple as setting realistic goals for yourself, like listening to an audible book on your way home from work. Find out what is important to you, and slowly build these activities into your schedule. You could begin by making time to spend an hour a week on your hobby or planning your yearly weekend escape with your partner.
3. Time your Food
Eat your dinner before work or early in your shift, and try to eat a small or medium-sized meal before bed. Eating a large meal before bed can disrupt your sleep. Therefore, try to avoid eating large meals roughly one to two hours before you go to sleep. On your night shifts, avoid eating big meals between midnight, and 6 am. Instead, aim to consume some wholefood snacks every few hours to help keep you energised.
4. Drop activities that deplete your time or energy
Please notice the activities that don’t enhance your life and minimise your time spent on them. It can make such a big difference if you look at what you should stop doing rather than what you need to do. Do you need to stay longer at work to listen to someone gossiping? Uh, no! Do you need to hang out with negative people? Again, uh, no!
If you find a person or activity does not add value to your life, then sometimes you’ve just got to minimise to maximise.
5. Rethink your at-home errands
A nurse that I worked with found a cheap cleaner to do a full house clean every second week. She discovered that this freed up time for her, which she could spend on the things she enjoyed doing. What could you outsource? Could you order your weekly groceries online and have them delivered? Maybe even order pre-made meals for the weeks that you know you will be busy and don’t want to cook. If you have kids – possibly start a chore chart on the fridge and balance the load? (pocket money incentives will make the chore pitch more appealing) Can you divide household errands with your partner and roommates? You might find a little more time in your day for the things that matter to you.
6. Move your body
I don’t have to tell everyone the incredible benefits that exercise provides. I also know from experience with shiftwork that it can be hard to fit in with a tight schedule, but it is super important. If you are in between nights and find that the commute to the gym takes up too much of your time, try rolling out a yoga mat and following a workout video from home. Or, simply enjoy a stroll around the neighbourhood to help wake you up; if you miss exercising while in a run of nights, don’t beat yourself up about it. I am sure some nurses make their step quota for the week in a single night of work.
I know there are many more points I could have added to this blog. So, if you’ve read this and think that you have some of your own valuable shiftwork tips, I’m all ears! I would love you to leave a comment and share it with our nursing community.
