Top 5 Ways to Keep Your Mind Alert During Your Night Shift Staying alert all the way through your night shift is nothing short of challenging. Regardless of whether you’ve prepared for it or not, our biological clock makes it rather hard to get used to working during the night. This is why you are likely to start feeling tired, worked out and used up at some point. This is when your alertness and focus is going to suffer. This is also when you might make quite a few mistakes which could be very dangerous for your patients, and not to mention mistakes that are completely preventable. That’s why we want to provide you with a few helpful tips on how to stay alert throughout your entire night shift. 1. Drink plenty of cold water The truth is that water is absolutely essential if you want to go through the night shift successfully. As strange as it may sound, one of the main reasons for this is that you’d have to go to the bathroom quite often. That’s right – the thing that’s going to keep you awake is your busy bladder. Of course, water is also going to increase the oxygenation of your blood which means that it’s going to increase your alertness and help you stay fresh during the night. Related: 5 Ways to Get Rid of Hunger Pains When You Can't Take Lunch 2. Keep Your Mind Properly Stimulated There are quite a lot of things that you can do in order to keep your mind constantly stimulated. Even though bringing a book might seem like a good idea, you should avoid doing this as it is most likely going to get you sleepy. Instead, you can download a catchy and addictive game on your phone or mobile device to keep yourself occupied when you have some free time to kill. 3. Keep Moving Even though being a nurse generally involves quite a lot of movement, sometimes you are going to find yourself without anything to do. This is when you should keep moving instead of just sitting on the couch and waiting for an order. Instead, go check on your patients once again, find a colleague and help him or her out if he needs any assistance – keep yourself occupied with activities.
4. Prepare One of the things that you might want to do in advance is to prepare yourself for the actual shift. In order to do so properly, make sure that you get a lot of sleep throughout the day before your night shift. You can’t really expect to stay up and active all night if you’ve done so throughout the day as well. This is why you need to ensure that you’ve gotten a lot of sleep. Treat it like a standard morning shift. Related: 10 Different Certifications You Should Know About 5. Healthy Nutrition Believe it or not, nutrition has almost everything to do with your alertness. As a matter of fact, you are going to feel much more energetic if you eat healthy. This is because your body is going to be supplied with all the necessary nutrients and it’s going to have the energy it needs to keep going. Your body will operate better if it can rely on great, natural energy sources such as nuts, rather than short-lasting energy bursts from sugars and caffeine. Of course, there are other helpful tips that you might want to take advantage of. However, these ones are particularly useful and they are specifically designated to help you raise your levels of alertness throughout your night shift. Keep in mind that every organism is different and if there’s something that works for you better – you should go for it. Related: International Nurses Association Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter