Does this sound familiar? You enter the new year with high hopes of staying rested and recharged throughout the year, but just a few months (sometimes weeks) in, you find yourself in the same cycle — after working long hours, you order food in, stay up late doom-scrolling on your phone, and wake up tired and drag yourself back to work. This cycle is just not sustainable; in the long run, not finding time for rest in your daily life can lead you down the dark path of chronic stress and burnout.
To keep exhaustion at bay, we’ve rounded up some helpful habits you can adopt to keep you rested and recharged throughout the year regardless of how hectic your work schedule gets.
Work-life balance for nurses: Staying rested and recharged in 2025
Eat enough nutritious food
Feeling rested and recharged doesn’t start and end in the bedroom — the kitchen is also a huge part of the equation. Your body needs the right kind of fuel to perform optimally, which involves a balanced diet of complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and healthy fat. Your overall mood and health will also benefit from cutting off as much processed foods and added sugar from your daily diet.
To ensure that you’re getting enough nutrition daily, especially while you’re at work, you can opt to meal prep meals in advance. Other hefty benefits of meal prepping include saving money and time, boosting your emotional wellness, and reducing food waste. Meal prepping is also helpful for nurses who work the night shift, ensuring they get proper sustenance throughout their shift, as most hospital cafeterias are only open during the daytime.
Stick to a healthy sleep schedule and bedtime routine
Regardless of age and job title, everyone needs sufficient sleep to allow the body to rest and the mind to recharge. It’s an essential function that enables us to stay healthy and remain productive. Unfortunately, not everyone gets enough sleep daily, especially healthcare workers. According to the Sleep Foundation, more than one-third of the US population is guilty of having sleep debt or getting less than the recommended 7 hours of sleep daily. Having sleep debt is even more common in people who work in the healthcare sector.
To help you get enough rest daily, create a sleep schedule and bedtime routine that work for you. Set a strict lights-off time that will help you ample rest and allow you to prioritize your sleep each day. Stick to this schedule even on your days off.
Creating a bedtime routine can also help tell your body that you’re winding down for the day and help you sleep faster and longer. Not only that but having a solid bedtime routine can also help alleviate stress, improve your mood, and enhance your overall health. Here are a few things you can incorporate in your bedtime routine:
· Have a no-electronics-one-hour-before-sleeping rule. Scrolling on your phone or tablet in bed won’t lull you to sleep. In fact, it will do the exact opposite according to studies. Our devices emit blue light that can reduce or delay our body’s production of melatonin, which is a hormone that’s responsible for making us feel sleepy.
· Take a warm shower before sleeping. Doing so will help reduce body tension and soothe muscle soreness. It can also decrease stress hormones and give your mood an instant boost.
· Make sleeping extra enjoyable and comfortable. If you’re a night shift nurse, having black-out curtains is non-negotiable. If you enjoy having white noise while you sleep, turn on your white noise machine or a specially curated Spotify playlist to keep distracting sounds at bay (which is a necessity when sleeping in the daytime). You can also incorporate using mindfulness sleeping and meditation apps to help you sleep better.
Don’t rely on energy drinks or caffeine
When you’re feeling low on energy, sometimes it feels like it’s second nature to grab a cup of coffee or a cold energy drink from the pantry or cafeteria. But doing this multiple times a day isn’t good for your health. Energy drinks, in particular, typically contain large amounts of caffeine that can affect a person’s hydration levels and cause health issues including insomnia, irregular or racing heartbeats, sweating, nervousness, or seizures.
According to a 2020 study, nurses who drank energy drinks at work reportedly suffered from having poorer sleep quality and fewer sleep hours compared to nurses who did not drink either coffee or energy drinks or those who only drank coffee. Nurses who consumed energy drinks were also reported to have increased perceived stress than their non-caffeinated counterparts. Instead of relying on energy drinks and multiple cups of coffee, it’s a good idea to focus on getting enough rest and movement, staying hydrated, and eating well.
Get your nature fix
Have you ever noticed how relaxed you feel when you’re in nature? The wonderful scents, sounds, and sights all contribute to feelings of relaxation, and you should get as much of it as possible. According to the American Psychological Association, being in nature reduces stress, improves mood, and enhances attention, cooperation, and empathy. So, during your break time, go outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air and do breathing exercises. On your days off, you can explore nearby parks to walk, hike, or bike.
Fix your work schedule
Work with your company’s scheduling team to get a schedule that works for you and your energy levels. If you work three 12-hour shifts, spreading them out throughout the week can help your body recover from fatigue faster and enable you to work better.
At Oculus Health, our nurses get personalized assistance from a dedicated operations manager, ensuring that their concerns are promptly addressed. Not only that, but they also get 24/7 assistance from our stellar scheduling support team, allowing them to manage their schedules at any time of the day. Curious about the Oculus Health difference? Learn about us here and explore our open positions here.
