Take a breather

1. Introduce power napping

The figures compiled by the “Deutschland schläft gesund” healthy sleep initiative are alarming. When asked about their sleeping habits, 64 % of the nurses surveyed said that they were suffering from poor sleep. When you consider that irregular working hours and high stress levels cause real problems for our circadian rhythms, it is little wonder. The consequences of this are serious: a lack of sleep not only reduces a person’s concentration and ability to respond; it also weakens the immune system. And these are all factors that nursing staff, with their heavy responsibilities, can do without – not to mention the risk of high sickness absence rates among the staff affected. You see, those who continually fail to get enough sleep are also more likely to develop serious chronic conditions, such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Is there anything that can help? Well, yes there is a matter of fact. Your staff can start by taking 5 to 20 minutes out of their working day for a short snooze. This is called a power nap because it will recharge their batteries for the next 3 to 4 hours. The same goes for you as a manager and the practice can – of course – also be adopted by other sectors. Here are five tips to help you: 1. Explicitly encourage your staff to recharge their batteries by taking a power nap once a day. Please also feel free to lead by example. 2. With this in mind, you could perhaps set up a suitable rest area within the staffroom/ break room in consultation with your staff. 3. Try to organise the shift plan around staff preferences. Each member of staff will generally have their own needs and tendencies in this regard. One person might find it easier to deal with short gaps between shifts than another person who prefers to have a longer break in between. 4. Urge your staff to take the proper breaks during a night shift. 5. Make sure that your team is ready and able to tackle its tasks and keep the workload realistic to avoid stress and overload. Incidentally: a set of carefully selected physical exercises can also help revitalise body and mind by providing people with a breath of fresh air, so to speak. Instructions for all kinds of short exercises can be found on the Internet by searching for “office workout”, but please check their suitability first.