People imagine nurses spend their days off at brunch, at the gym or on exotic holidays. Some do. But ask nurses honestly what they do between shifts, and you’ll hear a familiar list.
- Sleep. A lot. Especially after a run of nights.
- Do a mountain of laundry. Mostly scrubs and compression socks.
- Eat a hot meal sitting down. Slowly. With a knife and fork. Bliss.
- Ignore the ward group chat until someone posts “Is anyone free tonight?”
- Do the weekly shop on a Tuesday morning, when the supermarket is blissfully empty.
- Go to appointments they’ve been postponing for months: dentist, health check-ups, hairdresser.
- Catch up on study, CPD, revalidation or that course their manager mentioned.
- Batch-cook meals for the next run of shifts.
- Video call family, especially nurses working abroad in a different time zone.
- Take the children to school, and actually be the one who picks them up.
- Put their feet up literally. Elevation is self-care.
- Work an extra shift. Bills don’t pay themselves.
- Watch an entire series without falling asleep. Well, most of it.
- Go to church, the mosque or a place of worship, if they finally have a free weekend.
- Do absolutely nothing, and refuse to feel guilty about it.
How to make your days off actually restful
- Protect the first day off. Plan nothing big. Let your body recover.
- Switch off notifications from work chats if you can.
- Get outside in daylight, especially after nights. It helps reset your body clock.
- Move gently: a walk, a stretch, a swim.
- See people who make you laugh and have nothing to do with work.
- Don’t fill every day off with extra shifts. Our scripts for saying no can help.
Have a partner who’s also off? See our list of fun things to do with your partner on a day off.
Nurses: what’s the first thing you do on a day off? Tell us in the comments.
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