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Seven Smart Ways for Nurses to Manage Health with a Family

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Seven Smart Ways for Nurses to Manage Health with a Family

Photo by Cedric Fauntleroy from Pexels

Nursing is a challenging profession that requires a lot of sacrifices. You have to go through continuous physical and mental burnout while providing care to the patients. The current pandemic of COVID-19 has increased the responsibilities of nurses as they have to work extra shifts day and night now.

In the current scenario, it has become challenging for nurses to take care of their health, especially for married nurses having family responsibilities. The primary responsibility of nurses is to help patients adopt a healthy lifestyle by taking sufficient sleep, controlling diet, and following the doctor’s guidelines.

But sometimes, nurses get caught up in professional and personal life. They fail to attain a work-life balance that disrupts their mental peace and badly affects overall health.

It is critical for nurses to stay in the best emotional, physical, and mental state to fulfill responsibilities efficiently at work. As a nurse, having family responsibilities can be stressful, but you have to figure out ways to balance professional and personal affairs.

According to statistical studies, hospitals and patients were reportedly unhappy with nurses who were not physically and mentally stable. It shows the significance of nurses’ health in the healthcare industry. Here are some tips for nurses with a family to manage their health efficiently.

Give yourself time by working online

For nurses, one of the best ways to take care of their health is by working online. Whether you want to work in a particular position or pursue further education, managing things from home gives you enough time for yourself.

For example, if you want to be a mental health nurse practitioner, enroll in a well-recognized university for an rn to pmhnp online degree program. It will save your traveling time, cost, and energy and give you sufficient time to provide for your family and yourself.

Today’s technological advancements have allowed many professions to work from home, which applies to nursing. There are certain positions like a senior clinical strategist, case manager nurse, legal nurse consultant, and others that you can consider for remote jobs.

You can schedule your daily routine by allocating hours for your work, family, and exercise to stay in perfect shape.

Eat before the start of your shift

The option of a remote job is not for everyone, so if you are doing a full-time job as a nurse, you should have a meal before your shift. If you are working the morning shift, you must have breakfast to help you stay focused throughout the day.

It will also keep you active even when you are back home with your family—eating before the shift can increase your brain function and provides essential minerals and vitamins to your body.

Get sufficient sleep

Getting enough sleep of seven to 9 hours is essential for our body. As a nurse, you should properly plan your daily routine to carry out your family and professional duties on time. It will provide you sufficient time to get adequate sleep and to remain in a good health condition.

Good sleep also reduces chronic health conditions risk. When you are young, you can get away with few hours of sleep. But with professional and family responsibilities, you have to get proper rest to deal with stressful shifts.

Eat homemade food

It is not easy to cook food at home when you’re dealing with professional and family commitments. But to maintain good health, you have to make the right choices for your diet. Consider hiring a full-time chef so that you can take homemade food daily at work.

It will also save your time and allow you to use it for something else more important. Some nurses also experience fatigue after having lunch, so taking your meals helps control your sugar and carb intake.

Exercise daily

Going to the gym after working long shifts can be a daunting task and especially when your family is waiting for you at home. Again you have to give some time from your regular working day to work on your body.

It is advisable to get gym equipment at home and schedule your workout plan according to your working hours.

If you work the morning shift, you should give yourself at least an hour for exercise. Running on the treadmill or doing squats with weights is enough to keep yourself fit and healthy. Working out is known to relieve stress, control weight, and enhance energy.

While doing exercise at home, you can watch tutorial videos online to improve your workout plan.

Keep yourself hydrated

Water is one of the most crucial elements of our body, so you need to consume it regularly to perform all duties efficiently. It would help if you drank at least 8-ounce glasses of water per day to make your body function perfectly and maintain proper hydration.

A research study declared that men should consume 13 cups of water daily while women should take 9 cups. You should keep a refillable water bottle at your workstation as it is not a challenging task, even if you have family commitments to fulfill.

Cut down on caffeine

If you work the night shift, then caffeine can be your biggest weakness. But you need to know about the harmful effects of caffeine on the brain that it causes due to continuous sleep deprivation. According to medical experts, consuming caffeine 5 hours before bedtime can severely affect your sleep quality and quantity.

Rather than depending on caffeine, you should try to get sufficient sleep, as already mentioned above, so you don’t feel the urge for tea or coffee.

Conclusion

Nurses spend most of their lives treating and caring for others by making many sacrifices in their personal lives. They even forget how important their mental and physical health is to carry out necessary duties in the healthcare sector.

Therefore, it is vital to balance your work and family life by efficiently managing and planning your daily routine. It would be best if you created your daily routine plan to manage your health according to your working hours and the nature of your job.

Following a proper roadmap will keep you on track and help you become a family-oriented person by staying in the best physical and mental shape.

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