The Sleep RN

It’s time to take back your sleep!

Sleep is one of the most underrated tools we have to stay healthy. Although humans can survive for weeks without food and days without water, after approximately 36 hours without sleep, our bodies begin to shut down. Sleep deficits are linked to a variety of medical issues, including heart failure, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. After only one night of four to five hours of sleep, our bodies produce 70 percent less critical anti-cancer immune cells.

Sleep also has a serious impact on our mental wellbeing and behavior. Without sleep, we are more prone to be anxious, depressed, and suicidal. We, as humans, need sleep in order to pay attention, learn, and function in a normal society.

Getting a good night’s sleep can be incredibly difficult.

I am a nurse. I have been for over 20 years, and I have been tired for most of those two decades. I am not alone. Like other First Responders, we are called upon to be superheroes … impervious to things like hunger, pain, sadness and fatigue. We keep going. As the years go on we become crusty and curt. We show up. We put aside our fatigue to care for patients because we consider the need for sleep to be a character flaw; only for the weak. A dedicated first responder can churn out shift after shift, even on minimal sleep because we will never abandon our patients. This takes a devastating toll over time…

Nurses generally consider sleep promotion a very low priority in their practice. Could this be because the typical nursing student receives just an average of 60 minutes of education about sleep during their entire four-year program?

Yes, you read that right: 60 minutes! Think about that for a second. We only spend one hour discussing what occurs during ONE-THIRD of our patients’ lives! Sleep education has still not been effectively integrated into the nursing curricula. No wonder nurses do not place a high priority on sleep and express that they consider insufficient sleep knowledge as a major barrier to effective sleep management in the clinical setting in addition to a perceived lack of time.

Nurses are the largest group of healthcare professionals and are considered to be the most trusted profession, so they are in the perfect position to effect change in our world. Not only for their patients, but also for themselves as a group. Nurses who believe in and adopt healthy behaviors themselves are more likely to act as positive role models for their patients through patient education. In fact, nurses who had higher sleep quality, were more knowledgeable about sleep in general and who had a positive attitude toward sleep hygiene were actually much more likely to broach the subject of sleep with their patients. So…here we go!!