How to Sleep After a Night Shift: 12 Proven Tips From Nurses Who Have Done Years of Nights

Working nights means sleeping against your body clock, which is designed to keep you awake in daylight. Shift workers often get less sleep than day workers, and long-term disruption is linked to health problems. These tips, backed by sleep research and tested by experienced night nurses, can help.

Seven hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep after a night shift is not a fantasy. Nurses who use these tips get it regularly.

On the way home

1. Wear sunglasses on the way home. Morning light tells your brain it is daytime and makes sleep harder.
2. Do not drive if you are drowsy. Take a short nap, use public transport or ask for a lift. Drowsy driving after nights is a real danger.

Before you sleep

1. Go to bed as soon as possible after getting home, rather than staying up “to wind down”.
2. Stop caffeine about 6 hours before you plan to sleep.
3. Eat a light meal; avoid heavy, spicy food or alcohol, which disrupts sleep.
4. Keep a short routine: shower, put on comfortable clothes, phone on silent.

Your sleeping space

1. Make it dark: blackout curtains or blinds and an eye mask.
2. Make it quiet: earplugs or a white-noise machine, and a “do not disturb” sign.
3. Make it cool: a cool room helps you fall asleep.
4. Tell your family your sleep hours, and treat them as seriously as work hours.

Planning your sleep

1. Try “anchor sleep”: keep a block of at least 4 hours at the same time on workdays and days off, to help your body clock adjust.
2. Nap before your first night shift, for example 1–2 hours in the afternoon, and consider a short nap of 20 minutes during your break if allowed.

Things to be careful with

Sleeping tablets and melatonin are not suitable for everyone and should be discussed with a health professional. If you struggle with sleep for weeks, feel exhausted all the time, or fall asleep at the wheel, ask for advice; some people have shift work sleep disorder and may need a rota change.

After your last night

Sleep for a few hours in the morning, then get up and get some daylight. Go to bed at a normal time that night to switch back.

“But I am used to nights. Sleep just won’t come.”

Your body clock never fully adapts to nights, but light, darkness, timing and routine make a big difference. Most nurses find at least two or three tips that work for them.

Related: Night shift vs day shift · A night in the life of a nurse

Sources: US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) training for nurses on shift work and long work hours; Sleep Foundation shift work guidance; Royal College of Nursing guidance on night shift working.