We’ve seen the scary stories. How shift work exhausts your body, erodes your health, and impacts your mood and relationships. But when you choose a career in nursing, there’s no escaping the 24/7 nature of the job. So let’s take a moment to look on the bright side and consider the many glorious advantages of working the much-maligned night shift.
1. No parking hassles or peak-hour traffic
Fewer hospital staff overnight means no getting stuck in a long line of cars waiting to get into the carpark. At 7.30am, you’re zooming out in the opposite direction of peak-hour traffic with a smile on your dial and Spotify blaring. Toot toot!
2. No early morning alarm
No tossing and turning all night before a rude awakening at 5.30am for day shift. It’s much nicer to be getting into a cozy bed in the morning then getting out of one.
3. Dare I mention the Q word?
In nursing, you never, ever say “gee it’s quiet”. It’s the biggest, baddest, most unforgivable thing you could ever do. But there is something q…uite nice about working when the rest of the world sleeps. There are fewer phones ringing and emails pinging, families have gone home for some well-earned rest, and other hospital staff have knocked off for the day. On the night shift, it’s just doctors and nurses, razor focussed on patient care and perfecting hot milo.
4. Better pay
Cha-ching! Not only does it cost you less to go to work (hello off-peak parking), but night shift adds a nice little kick to your pay. As it should, of course, but it’s good to be compensated for the nasty side effects of night owling.
5. Guilt-free sleeping patterns
You know those annoying personal trainers on social media who insist we should have early morning routines and never hit the snooze button? They’re too vanilla soft-serve for night shift. Night shifters sleep whenever we damn well please. We also wear luxurious sleep masks and cute pajamas that say stuff like “nurse off duty”. Of course, you can wear fancy PJs no matter what hours you work, but after night shift you are very invested in creating the perfect sleep zone.
6. No 9-to-5 grind
Even when you work full-time hours, shift work seems to give you more free time. There’s no Monday-to-Friday grind. There’s no cramming the rest of your life into a two-day weekend. Daily life has more variety and opportunity to do everything from a tax appointment to long lunches to a midweek getaway.
7. Longer shifts means more days off
In ICU, we typically work 12.5-hour shifts. That means you work 3 shifts a week, which leave you with 4 days off. Every single week. Bliss.
8. Fewer tempting snacks in the lunch room
During the day, nursing staff rooms seem to have an endless supply of delicious food – celebratory cakes for colleagues, pizzas and pastries from doctors, chocolates from families. Which is very lovely and appreciated, but it’s hard to stick to your best intentions when you’re 10 hours into a 12-hour shift.
9. You are less available
Shift work runs over a 24/7 roster, which means your life is less predictable. Therefore, your availability for every possible social event is not a given. Sorry, can’t make that meeting/function/event. Gotta work.
10. Sunrise hits different
There is something extra special about the first crack of daylight after night shift. No matter what the night has delivered, sunrise is a beautiful symbol of renewal. Of course, there are shifts where you’re too busy to soak it in, but on those days, sunrise means relief is on the way and the next shift will be rolling in like rock stars any minute.
