How to Keep Your Spirits Up as a Nurse in the Winter

Nursing can be quite demanding at times, especially in the winter. The cold weather may cause seasonal blues, and snow days may make it difficult to get to work. Here are a few tips to keep your spirits up in the winter in order to be an effective nurse.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/yo01Z-9HQAw

De-Stress After Work

Focus on making your home a relaxing environment. Have a dedicated workspace for any assignments that you need to work on while you are at home. Setting aside a dedicated amount of time for self-care can help you de-stress after work. Further, if you repeat your self-care activity daily it may become a healthy habit. 

Not sure how to de-stress? Try writing in a gratitude journal. Journal writing is a great way to command your stress and boost your mood. You can reflect on all of the good things in your life and reflect on previous things that you have written. According to NPR, expressing gratitude is actually good for your health. Multiple benefits include healthier eating, better sleep, lower stress, and healthier interpersonal relationships. Not only will gratitude writing help nurses de-stress but it can possibly allow self-development during the wintertime. 

Prioritize Your Health

Take the advice that you are likely giving to your patients and prioritize your health. Self-care comes in multiple forms including exercising regularly, eating nutritious meals, strengthening your relationships, managing stress, and getting enough sleep to recover from your last shift. 

Focus on creating healthy habits rather than succumbing to guilty pleasures that affect your ability to sleep, eat healthily, de-stress, socialize, and exercise. You may also need to adjust to darker mornings and create a routine that helps you wake up easier. Consider incorporating a morning shower, a cup of coffee, some light exercise, or a quick read into your morning routine to help you feel more rejuvenated. 

Utilize Time Management

Let’s face it: inside the hospital, or health clinic, or wherever you work as a nurse, one season is pretty much like any other. There might be some variations in how busy you get, but no matter what season it is, people still need your help. That means regardless of the time of year, you have consistency in your schedule to count on. Outside the workplace, though? That’s a different story. Seasonal changes aren’t just with the physical weather, but also with our associated moods. The Mayo Clinic defines seasonal affective disorder, appropriately shortened to SAD, as “a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons,” where “symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months,” then “resolve during the spring and summer months.”

Whether you have diagnosable seasonal affective disorder or not, you can expect lower spirits to come up in the wintertime. So, you need to acknowledge that your time management might look different in the winter. Sure, it’s important to do your best. But your best with all the vigor of crisp fall or the adventure of sweet summer might have dulled by the time you get to a dreary winter. Your nurse work-life balance probably will shift seasonally, and you need to acknowledge that. 

Research Different Types of Therapy

Nurses might be resistant to the idea of being patients themselves, but getting therapy is not the same as getting physical medical treatment. Plus, it can really help you keep your spirits up through a bleak and dreary winter. Many people think of therapy as being a one-on-one type situation, where a patient sees a therapist and talks through concerns and maybe is then diagnosed with some medication. Of course there is a therapy that operates this way, and it could be helpful. But, experimenting with different kinds of therapy may be a better way to keep your spirits up than defaulting to only the expected method. Even if you try therapy methods that don’t ultimately work best for you, you’ll be actively demonstrating to yourself that you’re prioritizing your emotional well-being, which can be a positive boost to your mood.

You may have heard of music therapy. This can be a great method to consider as a consistent mood boost if you work in concert with a professional to set up an individualized plan for how to use music therapeutically. A less commonly known, but no less effective, therapy method to consider is hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy works well as a treatment for mental health conditions like depression or anxiety, working at a subconscious level to lift emotional burdens and foster joy again. Seasonal depression is a real concern for nurses, so hypnotherapy may become a winter staple just like your coat. 

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/jYAHNQ8GXYc 

Avoid Nurse Burnout 

A high-stress profession can take its toll on you anytime, but it’s typically worse when the weather is also bringing you down. Nurse burnout, according to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, is “the state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion caused by sustained work-related stressors such as long hours, the pressure of quick decision-making, and the strain of caring for patients who may have poor outcomes.” These factors can be compounded by seasonally low spirits, especially for healthcare professionals who themselves have diagnosable SAD.

While it may be impossible to completely avoid the possibility of nurse burnout, you can minimize the risk of experiencing this burnout dramatically. Avoid nurse burnout by proactively considering how well you’re doing with your workload. Are there stressors you can lessen or remove from your life? For example, can you delegate to a coworker to reduce the weight of your quick decision-making pressure? Every nurse’s situation is unique, but considering the possibility of burnout can help you prepare, so you’re ready to combat lower spirits and keep your mood as positive as you can.