Many people underestimate the importance of sleep. It’s easy to forget how sleep (or lack of) affects the body. We even go as far as thinking of the process as a chore. But getting a good night’s sleep is essential for good health, and can help restore your state of mind for the next day and onward. 

What Constitutes a Good Night’s Sleep?
When you have a good night’s sleep, you are able to wake up ready to start your day. Healthy sleep at night helps you do the following:

Replenishes your body and mind with energy
Boosts the immune system to fight possible infections
Rebuilds muscles after exercising
Increases memory and learning skills
In order for your body to engage in a good night’s rest, your body must undergo two alternating states of sleep during the course of the night:

Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) – Deep and restful sleep where your brain waves slow down
Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM) – Allows your mind to reboot like a computer; this is when dreaming can take place normally

For these two sleep states to take place, the nerve stems in your lower part of your brain have to produce two chemicals – serotonin and norepinephrine, both are linked to regulation of SWS and REM. Without this, a normal sleep state can be disrupted, preventing you from obtaining the mental and physical recuperation you normally would.

If you’re a travel nurse on assignment, it is vital not only in the work and care you perform on patients but also on your very survival – in addition to diet and exercise. Getting an average of 6 to 8 hours a night of sleep is essential to keep you sharp and able to concentrate on your tasks at hand.

How Can Normal Sleeping Patterns Be Disrupted?
There can be a lot of factors for normal sleeping patterns to shift to where you don’t get a good night’s rest. Whether it’s stress, long work hours, insomnia, back pain, migraines, illness (common cold, flu, strep throat), the inability to get to 6 to 8 hours of rest can debilitate you. You may find yourself waking up feeling worn out and groggy, reluctant to motivate.

Sleep Deprivation Effects in Health
Not getting a good night sleep can be detrimental to your travel nursing position at a healthcare facility, effecting the care you perform on your patients. More importantly, lack of sleep can increase the risk of a variety of health conditions such as depression and heart disease.

There are a number of symptoms you can have from lack of sleep, including:

Daytime sleepiness, drowsiness and haziness
Fatigue and increased irritability
Inability to concentrate
Reduced memory retention
Impair occupational function and ability to operate heavy machinery such as a car
How Alcohol Affects Sleeping Patterns
One thing that can be incredibly disruptive to the quality of sleep is drinking alcohol prior to going to bed.  Not only does this have a detrimental effect on your entire sleep cycle but also on your body and mind. Despite the fact alcohol can function as a sedative, it also prevents the body from going into REM sleep, disrupting both the structure and durations of every sleep state, the total amount of time you sleep, and time required to fall asleep. 

While it can be dependent on whether you’re a male or female, a heavy drinker or teetotaler, or a matter of genetics, once you have more than a few drinks, your entire sleep cycle will be disrupted. People who drink prior to going to bed can experiences a number of effects:

Suppresses breathing
Trigger sleep apnea – where your body pauses in breathing while you sleep
Elevated heart rate
Feel tired and mentally worn the following day
More troublesome, drinking has a depressing effect on the nervous system. Despite the fact you fall asleep faster and more soundly for the first half of the night, your body rejuvenates in the second half and remains awake – aka. sympathetic nervous system where your body acts as if its already functioning in the daytime and stays alert. The alcohol deprives you of the REM sleep you need at night to be refreshed when you wake up, and instead you end up feeling groggy and tired.

Ensuring a Good Night’s Rest
Given your role in delivering quality patient care, ensuring you enjoy restful sleep is essential. In order to reach the requisite 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night, you can put into place some good practices.

Promoting Sleep Hygiene
Implement a scheduled bedtime and time when you wake up. Whether you’re on the day shift or the night shift, make sure you’re in a dark environment, where windows are heavily curtained and certain electronics are turned off or put on silent. A dark setting without any bright lights from lamps or the TV will help promote melatonin – a natural hormone that helps promote healthy sleep.

It’s also beneficial to sleep in a room that’s slightly cool. While the appropriate temperature will vary depending on the person, a good rule of thumb is having the thermostat set at 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, you should avoid napping close to bedtime. If you do need to nap, do it more midday. But if you need to nap daily, there may be a sleep problem at hand you should have checked out.

Clear Your Mind
Since the bed should be used only for sleep, clearing your mind of that day’s events and what’s to follow tomorrow is necessary. A restful mind means a restful sleep. Some of the things you can do to ensure healthy sleeps, includes:

Deep breathing, paying to attention to your breaths
A comfortable mattress that’s right for your body
Follow a mantra of positive, encouraging thoughts
Doing this regularly will allow you to put your mind at ease, and allow you to fall easier into healthy, normal sleeping patterns.

Don’t Eat Late!
You may tell patients this or hear doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians saying it, but the truth remains: don’t eat prior to bedtime, especially heavy meals that are high in fat. This can cause difficulty in your body to properly digest foods. Spicy foods can further exacerbate matters due to the risk of heartburn, which cause acid reflux and disrupt your sleeping patterns for the remainder of the night.

To avoid disruptions in your sleep, make sure your last meal takes place at least three hours prior to bedtime. This will allow your body to digest the food you ate, and focus solely on using up excess fat while you sleep.

If your travel nursing shift is at night, make sure you eat smaller and more frequent meals involving fruit, nuts, and vegetables as well as those in high protein and low fat. Having the wrong foods can significantly impact your energy and performance levels on the job.

GET YOUR REST!
Remember, you can only perform at your best on a travel nurse assignment when you are well rested and refreshed. With the demands your position can give you, staying in great health means getting that 6 to 8 hours of rest, so you can deliver quality patient care while staying in excellent spirits. Remember, a well-rested nurse is a successful nurse!

If you’re rested up and ready for some new travel adventures, take a look at all of the exciting destinations that await you across the country…

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