Medically CitedWhile nurses know how vital health-promoting practices are, they might not apply that knowledge to their self-care. The work overload, shift work, and long hours linked to nursing may result in nurses indulging in unhealthy habits, including not getting enough sleep and poor quick-fix diets. This may also cause burnout and job dissatisfaction, negatively impacting their physical, emotional, and mental health.
When nurses remain healthy, performance and productivity improve, the quality of care they provide improves, burnout decreases, and job satisfaction rises. Here are five crucial tips for nurses to stay healthy.
1. Consider Meal Prepping
Nurses usually work long hours, and their schedules are demanding and constantly changing. This makes it difficult to prepare fresh meals every time and may encourage take-outs and unhealthy eating habits. When you prep your meals in advance, you’re assured of healthy food that doesn’t need much cooking time. This can be helpful, especially when taking courses like MSN to FNP programs online, to advance your career alongside your job because it saves you time to study.
Meal prep lets you get the right carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein balance, giving you the proper nutrition to maintain focus and energy levels. Since, as a nurse, you’re constantly exposed to multiple diseases, meal prep provides you with various nutrients like zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin D to support your immune system function.
2. Maintain Good Sleep Hygiene
Sleep deprivation risks your well-being as a nurse and compromises your ability to offer quality care to patients. It also increases anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and low mood, impairing judgment. Maintaining excellent sleep hygiene improves the possibility of restful sleep, boosting productivity, overall quality of life, and physical and mental well-being.
It also boosts muscle repair, enhances the immune system, increases energy levels, and promotes excellent memory. Before going to bed, avoid alcohol or take a little, don’t exercise, avoid napping during the day, don’t take heavy meals, and avoid caffeine to create good sleep hygiene.
3. Exercise Regularly
Physical inactivity increases the risk of conditions like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and obesity. However, regular exercising can help you prevent these diseases, keep the physical stamina your rigorous job requires, prevent mental health issues, and ensure you’re strong enough to handle strenuous activities like lifting and moving patients without the possibility of injury.
You can incorporate aerobics and muscle-building exercises into your workout routine. While physical activities are great for mental and physical health, integrating them into your nursing schedule can be challenging. However, you can find ways to fit them in.
4. Maintain a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Attaining and maintaining an excellent work-life balance in your nursing career is vital. It ensures better stress management, reduces burnout, improves physical and mental health, and gives you time to enjoy life. To achieve a healthy work-life balance, set professional and personal development, establish excellent time management skills, build healthy relationships, and know your priorities.
5. Schedule Regular Health Checkups
Routine health checkups are essential to helping nurses stay healthy. They’re a preventive measure that helps detect possible health issues early, increasing the chances of better treatment. During these screenings, your doctor can advise you on how to improve your health.
Endnote
Considering how demanding the nursing profession can be, maintaining a healthy routine can be challenging. Nonetheless, adopting these tips can help you stay healthy.
3 Sources
We review published medical research in respected scientific journals to arrive at our conclusions about a product or health topic. This ensures the highest standard of scientific accuracy.
[1] MEANINGFUL WORK STARTS AT UINDY: https://onlinenursing.uindy.edu/programs/online-msn-fnp[2] Why is sleep hygiene important for nurses?: https://nursesgroup.co.uk/sleep-hygiene-nurses
[3] Basic Guide on the Supplements for Healthy gut Barrier Function: https://informatics.org/health-fitness/basic-guide-on-the-supplements-for-healthy-gut-barrier-function/
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