The Good Wolf of the North

Are you a night shifter, or even just a run of the mill insomniac? Having been a nurse for almost fifteen years (damn, that sounds like a long time) I've done my share of night shifting. Companies can sure make it sound enticing with fat shift differentials and the absence of management raining down extra tasks on you, but as we all know, everything costs something, and night shift costs sleep. When I first dabbled in night shifts I told myself I could sleep when I'm dead. I soon felt like that appointment would come quicker than expected if I continued to deprive my body of this fundamental need. One weekend, when I was desperate to get a dog fence put up, I remember working all night at the hospital, sleeping two or three hours, fencing the rest of the day, then going back to work at night. That's probably not the the nurse you want caring for you when you come bursting into the ER mid stroke, but in reality, sleep deprivation of night shifters is more common than you m