January 29, 2022

2130 Views

Staying Healthy As a Busy Nurse

Posted on January 29, 2022January 25, 2022 by Kevin Devoto

As a nurse, it’s second nature for you to take care of everyone around you. No matter how busy you get with helping other people, you need to support your health. If your health isn’t at its best, it’ll be far harder for you to succeed at work. Before you go to work for the week, take some time to care for yourself. Supporting your health will help you succeed, both at work and home.

Getting Proper Nutrition

One of the most important aspects of taking care of yourself is your nutrition. When you’re busy with work, it can be hard to focus on what you’re putting in your body. As a nurse, you know that everything you eat becomes your body’s fuel, so it’s important to have healthy, balanced nutrition. When your diet suffers, your body will slow, and your energy levels will drop, making nursing all the more difficult. Ensuring your nutrition is balanced and complete is the first step in keeping your body healthy.

Of course, it can be hard to find time to sit down for full meals as a nurse. Depending on where you’re working, a meal break is a luxury that comes rarely. Even if you don’t get a full meal break every shift, it’s still important to take care of your nutrition; this is where things such as meal replacement shakes come in. While these shakes aren’t as nutrient-rich as a full meal, they provide the protein and fats your body needs to keep its energy up, allowing you to continue working without exhaustion. If you’re unsure of how to balance your nutrition and your busy schedule, look into these meal replacement solutions. No matter how you do it, keeping your nutrition right is vital to your overall health.

Ensuring High-Quality Sleep

Another major component of your overall health is sleep. When you sleep, your body heals from the stress and damage it has encountered that day. If the quality of your sleep is poor, you’ll be exhausted and sluggish the next day. Making sure you get both enough sleep and good quality sleep is crucial to maintaining your health. When you get high-quality sleep, your immune system will get a boost, and your health will improve. The question is, how do you improve your sleep as a busy nurse?

One of the best things you can do for your sleep is getting a good mattress. A supportive mattress will cradle your pressure points and reduce pain in your joints while you sleep. This reduction in pain and swelling will help you sleep deeper and wake up refreshed every morning. Another way you can improve your sleep is by having a routine. While this isn’t the easiest thing to do as a busy nurse, having a general set time that you go to bed and wake up every day will help you fall and stay asleep easier. This leads to less tossing and turning and deeper and more restorative sleep. The better sleep you get, the healthier your body will be.

Staying Mentally Healthy

Finally, it’s important to keep your mental health up as well. It’s no secret that nursing is an incredibly taxing profession, and it can take a severe toll on your mental health at times. If you want to stay healthy as a nurse, it’s crucial to take care of your mind as well. Take time to decompress after work and rejuvenate your psyche. No matter how stressful your job gets, you should be able to come home and relax. Make the effort to keep your mind healthy, and you’ll be able to avoid work stress getting the better of you.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed from work, take some time for self-care. How you do this depends on your tastes, but it’s the effort that will make the difference. Giving yourself a space to relax and unwind without any expectations will keep you mentally healthy as well as physically.

Overall, you need to take care of yourself as a nurse. The healthier you are, the better you’ll be able to protect and nurture others.

We hope you found these tips for staying healthy as a busy nu e helpful. Do you have any health tips for busy tr el nurses? Comment them below.

Are you looking for your next travel nurse assignment? Click here to view our job board. Do you need housing for your assignment? Click here to search our housing page.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

By Kevin Devoto

November 10, 2021

4345 Views

How to Stay Calm and Content as a Travel Nurse

Posted on November 10, 2021October 28, 2021 by Kevin Devoto

Nurses have a lot of stress on their plates daily. Adding frequent travel to an already anxiety-provoking job can make it that much more stressful. As a travel nurse, you’re not in one location for very long, and you’re in some longer than others. This means you probably feel like you’re constantly learning your way around new cities and learning the ropes at different facilities. There are many great perks to being a travel nurse. However, some of the reasons that may have initially led you to this type of nursing could be the very aspects stressing you now. Here are some ways to stay calm and content as a travel nurse

Staying Calm and Content:

Make Time For Self-Care

Everyone experiences stress at times, particularly those in the helping professions. It’s essential to take some time for yourself to relax. Routinely practice de-stressing. You may even have to schedule it into your daily and weekly activities so that you’re sure to make time for it. As a nurse, it’s vital to your own health to do something you enjoy every day, even if it’s just soaking in a hot bubble bath for an hour. Making time to de-stress, especially after a particularly challenging day, will improve your mental and physical health. You need to be healthy to do your best job helping others, so be kind to yourself; it’s not selfish.

Get enough good sleep and eat healthily. Considering features like mattress thickness, you may need to invest in a more comfortable bed to get a better night’s sleep. Make sure that you’re getting a solid eight hours of sleep each night. Technology these days allows much more access than ever to your friends and family. Wherever you are in the world, you can keep in touch with your loved ones, calling or video chatting. While it’s not perfect, knowing you have supportive people at your fingertips can keep homesickness at bay.

Invest In Yourself

Spend a little extra on the things you need for your job, such as clothing and especially your shoes, since you’re going to be on your feet for long hours. You need to be comfortable while you do your job. You also need to be sure that your gear will hold up through the wear and tear of your demanding work. Be sure to invest in equipment that’s more aesthetically appealing to you, also. After all, you perform at your best when you feel good and look good.

Look For New Adventures

Working in different cities can be stressful as you’re learning where everything is and how to navigate the area. The change of environment can also be exciting. Take time to explore the region. Your co-workers and neighbors can offer ideas of things you must do while you’re in the area. Additionally, exploring can allow you opportunities to meet new local friends.

Learn Organizational Skills

Life is much easier when you can stay organized, but this is challenging for many people. When you’re moving regularly and on the go with your daily duties, being organized is essential to save your life as free from stress as possible.

Keep Yourself In a Routine

Your assignments as a travel nurse could vary widely. It can be challenging to keep yourself in a routine when you feel like you’re constantly doing something different. If you can create a pattern and stick with it, stress will be kept at a minimum. You’ll know what to expect and will feel more in control over your life. It’ll also create a sense of normalcy.

Conclusion

As a travel nurse, you are particularly susceptible to stress. It’s crucial for your mental and physical wellbeing that you take care of yourself first and foremost. You won’t be helpful to anyone if you get burned out. Find ways to make yourself comfortable in your new surroundings and be kind to yourself daily. As a travel nurse, you have a lot of responsibilities, but you also have a lot of opportunities others don’t, so enjoy them.

We hope you found these tips for staying calm and content as a travel nurse helpful. Have you found any ways to keep yourself calm as a travel nurse? Comment them below.

Are you looking for your next travel nurse assignment? Click here to view our job board. Do you have an assignment lined up but need housing? Click here to search our housing page.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

By Kevin Devoto

November 5, 2021

4843 Views

5 Practical Tips to Help Traveling Nurses Sleep Better

Posted on November 5, 2021October 24, 2021 by Kevin Devoto

Working as a traveling nurse can be an exciting career. Not only do you get to meet and interact with new people all the time, but you also get to experience new places and cultures. However, one of the aspects that can be tricky to adapt to is getting a good night’s rest. With the long hours, constant traveling, and changes in time zones, it can be difficult to get quality shut-eye at night. Instead of counting sheep, try these five recommendations to help you sleep better as a traveling nurse.

1. Get a Sufficient Mineral Intake

Sufficient vitamin and internal intake are essential to fuel your body. It is also essential to get a good night’s rest. Magnesium, theanine, and calcium are all vitamins that cause your brain to produce chemicals that help you sleep. Take a daily multivitamin, and talk to your doctor to see if there are any deficiencies that you should take an extra capsule for. Adding a supplemental program to your routine, such as THRIVE by Le-Vel, can also help ensure your body is fueled properly to allow you to rest. Le-Vel Thrive reviews state the side effects include more energy, weight management, and overall health support.

2. Take Advantage of Flights

When you are stuck in an airplane for a few hours, your available activities are limited. If you pulled some long nights recently or know there are some ahead, take advantage of this time by taking a nap. Bring a pair of noise-canceling headphones to use on the plane. If you like music, put on a calming playlist. Otherwise, simply use the headphones to cancel out the background noise. Put on a sleep mask to create a dark setting. Be sure to ask the flight attendant not to wake you during the flight.

3. Use a Sleep Aid

Perhaps you struggle to fall asleep naturally or the change in time zones confuses your body. Either way, sleep aids are a fantastic option for helping you get to sleep. They are typically a capsule, gummy or dissolvable pill taken before bed. Diphenhydramine, the popular ingredient in many sleep aids, is an antihistamine that also counters insomnia.

If you want a more natural option, diffuse essential oils by your bed. There are a variety of diffusers available on the market, many in a convenient travel size. You can purchase basic oils at the store or get higher-quality brands directly from their websites. Cedarwood, lavender, and chamomile are all great oil options for helping you get shut-eye. Some companies even sell oil mixtures specifically tailored to help you sleep.

If you have a limited amount of space in your suitcase, bring an essential oil spray instead. A few spritzes on your pillowcase can help you relax and get some quality rest.

4. Turn On a White Noise Machine

Maybe you often stay at hotels when you travel, where there can be loud guests or workers in the hallways. Perhaps some calming background noise simply helps you sleep better. Either way, a white noise machine is a wonderful option for helping you sleep better. They are inexpensive, easy to travel with, and usually come with a few different sound options, such as a heartbeat, rainforest, or thunderstorm. If a basic version will do or you are trying to save on space, look for a white noise app on your phone. There should be a few options for purchase or even for free.

5. Bring Your Pillow and Blanket

Constantly traveling can leave you missing the comforts of home. Bringing some of those comforts with you can make the nights easier. If you have a favorite blanket from home, pack it and use it at night. Not all pillows are built equally, so you may find that constantly switching pillows makes it challenging to sleep. To avoid a hotel or apartment with a lousy pillow, bring yours along when you travel.

Conclusion

While getting a good night’s rest may be more difficult as a traveling nurse, taking a few proactive steps can make the process much easier. Try these tips to help you get a better night’s rest, no matter where you are staying.

We hope you found these tips for travel nurses to sleep better helpful. Do you have any tips you would like to share with fellow travel nurses to help them sleep better? Comment them below.

Are you looking for your next travel nurse assignment? Click here to view our job board. Need housing for your next assignment? Click here to search our housing page.

By Kevin Devoto

November 1, 2021

4120 Views

How Travel Nurses Can Get In Their Daily Vitamins

Posted on November 1, 2021October 28, 2021 by Kevin Devoto

Life as a travel nurse moves quickly. You’re constantly traveling to new places, and life can feel hectic. This means that sometimes the most important health practices are neglected. When health is put in second place, illnesses and injuries often occur that require time off to recuperate. Because your profession revolves around you being present and alert to help others, your health is also important to maintain. With this being said, getting in your daily vitamins is a great way to maintain your energy, ward off illnesses, and to keep your body strong.

Why You Need Vitamin D

Vitamin D keeps bones and teeth healthy by making sure enough phosphorus and calcium are absorbed. It is also important for adults, especially those with intense jobs such as working in the health industry. Dental problems and broken bones can take a lot of time away from helping others. In addition, vitamin D protects the immune system. This is important for everyone, especially during flu season, but it is especially important for those who are regularly around sick people.

Why You Might Be Missing It

Ever since the widespread use of sunscreen, many people are vitamin D deficient. This may seem like a strange connection. However, the reasoning is that humans manufacture their own vitamin D but need the sun to do it. When sunlight hits your skin, a chemical process begins that results in vitamin D production. This will not happen when sunscreen blocks the natural UV rays. Vitamin D is often one of the neglected nutrients, but that can easily be remedied. If you are wondering how to increase vitamin D levels quickly, there are a number of ways to accomplish it.

The Easiest Way to Get Enough Vitamin D

Many are afraid to be in the sun for even a few minutes, but in reality, all it takes to provide yourself with a sufficient amount of this nutrient is to spend up to half an hour in the sun at least twice a week without sunscreen. After half an hour, you should have produced enough and can then apply protection to avoid sunburn. This is the quickest and easiest method to increase vitamin D levels. Obviously, it is also the cheapest. This is why vitamin D is often referred to as “the sunshine vitamin.” If this is not possible for some reason, or if you live in a northern climate where sunlight is scarce in winter, a UV lamp can have a similar effect. These lamps are also good for those who tend to suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Other Ways to Get Vitamin D

If sunlight is not a good option for you, there are other sources of vitamin D. In generations past; people would often keep a bottle of cod liver oil in their refrigerators and have a spoonful of it every morning during fall and winter. It’s true that most of them stayed healthy through flu season but tasting oil that came from a fish’s liver first thing in the morning is not the most pleasant way to start the day. Thankfully, this oil now comes in capsule form. Choose a “burpless” formula, or you may end up tasting that oil throughout the day. You can also regularly eat certain foods to replenish your vitamin D supplies. These foods include mushrooms, cold-water fish like tuna, and eggs, including the yolks. There are also some common foods supplemented with vitamin D such as milk.

Conclusion

Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients for humans and one of the easiest to obtain. Try taking a break to sit outside on the next sunny day or if you happen to travel to a warm climate as a travel nurse. Not only will you be making your own vitamin D, but you will also be less stressed when you return to your responsibilities.

Are you looking for your next travel nurse assignment? Click here to view our job board. Have an assignment but haven’t secured housing yet? Click here to search our housing page.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

By AMN Healthcare

October 20, 2021

5285 Views

5 Tips to Stay Healthy as a Travel Nurse

Posted on October 20, 2021October 13, 2021 by AMN Healthcare

This article was provided by AMN Healthcare.

Experts share ways to set goals and stick to a routine

Whether you’re starting your first travel nursing assignment or are a seasoned travel nurse who has been on the road for a while, it can be tempting to blow off healthy habits due to a busy schedule and lack of familiar resources. But your health can’t afford to take a holiday.

So, check out these helpful tips from experts on how to improve or maintain your health while working as a travel nurse.

1. Set some attainable goals

What do you want to achieve during the 13-or-so weeks at each location? You’ll need to figure out how to stick to a routine that will help you stay healthy during your travel nursing career. “I always recommend that individuals take the time to log exercise and eating activities, along with mood and energy levels,” said Mindy Haar, Ph.D., RN, director of program development for interdisciplinary health sciences at New York Institute of Technology. “Many people will find what is optimal and doable and thus set realistic goals.”

2. Focus on yourself, first and foremost

According to the National Sleep Foundation, most adults require 7–9 hours of shut-eye each night, but they don’t always get it. Fatigue can make you apathetic and be detrimental to your physical health. If you’re finding it hard to sleep in an unfamiliar place, try using earplugs or a white noise machine to block out distractions.

To fight that lonely feeling while you’re away from loved ones, turn on your laptop or smartphone and Skype, FaceTime, call or email them, suggested Elena Capella, EdD, assistant professor and director of the online MSN program at the University of San Francisco. “Be connected with the people you love.”

3. Eat as healthy as you can

Preparing healthy meals in a strange kitchen doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, whole-wheat couscous and frozen vegetables are easy to prepare and make healthy additions to your plate, said Haar. Healthy cooking apps and websites and YouTube and Pinterest can also be great sources of inspiration. If you opt for takeout, order small portions—or divide larger portions and save half for later.

Travel nurses really do need to make an effort and be sensible while they’re on the road, said Jennie Johnson, Ph.D., RN-BC, author of Wake Up Call 911: It’s Time to Reduce Your Risk for a Heart Attack and Stroke. “Enjoy your adventures, but make healthy choices and stay safe.”

4. Find a stress-reduction technique that works for you

Feeling anxious or out of sorts? Practicing some simple relaxation techniques, including yoga poses and deep breathing exercises, can help you lower your stress levels. Another way to combat stress on the road is to focus on a project.

“A good book or needlework project works great,” said Johnson. “It keeps me busy and prevents eating junk food.”

5. Incorporate some regular exercise into your routine

“I think the biggest struggle in trying to stay healthy on a travel assignment is getting yourself organized quickly into a routine,” said Rebecca Ronaldson, MSN, RN, a former travel nurse who now works as a wellness coordinator for a nonprofit organization. “While trying to adjust to new surroundings, new people, and a new job, sometimes our health and fitness can be pushed to the background while we adjust to a new home and work life.”

You may feel like you’re too tired to work out, but exercise can actually improve your energy levels. Travel nursing jobs are a great time to embrace portable fitness activities. Resistance bands and fitness DVDs easily fit in your suitcase, or you can search YouTube for a fun fitness routine to do in your living room. You can also get to know your neighborhood by walking, jogging, or biking through nearby streets and parks and get to know your co-workers by inviting them to join you in outdoor sports and activities.

We hope you found these 5 tips to stay healthy as a travel nurse helpful. Do you have any advice to share with your fellow travel nurses? Comment them below.

Are you looking for your next travel nurse assignment? Click here to view our job board. Do you have an assignment but need housing? Click here to search our housing page.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

By AMN Healthcare

August 13, 2021

4964 Views

How Mindfulness Can Improve Nurses’ Mental and Physical Health

Posted on August 13, 2021January 16, 2023 by AMN Healthcare

This article was provided by AMN Healthcare.

Mindfulness interventions are helping nurses relieve stress during trying times.

Every afternoon at 3 p.m., three chimes ring out in the hallways of Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, New York.

The chimes are repeated at 10 p.m. each evening. They’re a gentle reminder to all who hear them to stop what they’re doing and breathe, to notice how they’re feeling in that moment. Then they can be ready to refocus.

“It has been really well received,” said Eileen Hinrichs, BSN, RN, NC-BC, chair of the holistic council at Mount Sinai South Nassau.

Perhaps that’s because everyone is feeling extra stressed these days—whether from COVID cases or just general patient care—and can benefit from a few moments to focus on the present and recenter themselves. This is the hallmark of mindfulness, and a growing number of people, including many healthcare professionals, find that embracing mindfulness can help improve their health.

In fact, mindfulness is a key technique to aid in self-care for nurses, which is the emphasis for the first week of Nurses Month 2021.

What the research says

Mindfulness is staying present in the moment, paying attention to how you feel and what’s going on around you. It’s not letting your mind race ahead of you into the future or agonizing over something that happened in the past.

“If you want to boil it down to one thing, it’s noticing where your attention is at any given moment,” says John Shepard, RN, a critical care nurse at Indiana University Health.

If that sounds like it might help you, that’s for good reason. A growing body of research confirms the benefits of mindfulness meditation and mindfulness-based interventions.

For example, a 2018 systematic review of more than 140 randomized clinical trials published in Clinical Psychology Review found that mindfulness interventions effectively addressed clinical symptoms of psychiatric disorders like depression and addiction. In fact, the researchers found that they were more effective than evidence-based treatments in some situations.

When you are able to reduce your stress levels, it has a positive impact on your body, too. For example, a 2013 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine suggested that incorporating some mindfulness techniques into your life may help you lower your blood pressure. And a 2017 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that mindfulness meditation could be useful in conjunction with other strategies to reduce a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease.

How healthcare organizations embrace mindfulness

In recognition of the benefits, a growing number of healthcare organizations are finding ways to embrace mindfulness and make it part of their organizational culture.

Shepard began his own mindfulness practice about seven years ago. He used a guided meditation app with a smartphone in a small open area just off the ICU before beginning his shifts.

“Slowly, people started joining me. That was kind of cool,” he remembers. Eventually, leadership took notice and asked him to coordinate a mindfulness program for the organization. Today, a big part of his job is encouraging fellow nurses and others to learn how to use mindfulness in their daily lives.

Shepard can tell others how mindfulness has personally helped him. The ICU is a very stressful place, where people can and often do get pushed to their limits, and he remembers getting anxious and tense.

“These practices helped me notice that a little bit earlier, so I could actually practice bringing some awareness to it,” he said.

Mount Sinai South Nassau also deliberately incorporates opportunities for staff to learn stress reduction techniques, including mindfulness, and practice self-care. One recent example is a 15-minute reflective spring meditation workshop to help participants learn how to use simple stress-management tools to feel calmer and more balanced.

These techniques can be especially useful today, in a time when people are so connected via technology that it can be hard to really remove yourself enough to decompress. “There’s never downtime,” noted Hinrichs. ‘We are connected continuously and bombarded by technology.”

Over this past year of the pandemic, making space to be silent and reset has become even more crucial. And that’s what learning and using a few simple mindfulness strategies can help people accomplish.

Try these mindfulness apps and techniques.

If your organization offers mindfulness practice sessions or other stress reduction opportunities, be sure to check them out. Or on your own time, you can try a few of these simple activities:

Listen to guided meditation. Try a free mindfulness app like Smiling Mind or UCLA Mindful or a subscription app like Headspace or Calm.

Breathe deeply. Taking a few long, slow, deep breaths from your belly can do wonders when it comes to helping you calm down and feel a little less frenzied. While you inhale and exhale, concentrate on how it feels.

Observe mindfully. Choose a nearby object, perhaps something visible through a window, to look at. Look at it carefully and try to notice as much as you can about it: its size, color, shape, whether or not it’s moving, etc. Don’t label or judge what you see. Just observe.

Whenever you’re engaging in a mindfulness activity, if you feel your mind starting to wander, notice that, too. Then deliberately bring your attention back to the moment, to the present. Don’t feel guilty about it or fret about it. It often takes some time and practice to stay focused.

Experts note that when you consistently practice mindfulness, it will shift your perception. You may be more likely to default to a positive attitude rather than a negative outlook.

“When you practice mindfulness, it’s a lot easier to do that,” said Hinrichs.

Are you looking for your next travel nurse job? Click here to search our job board. Do you have your next job secured but need housing? Click here to search our housing page.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

By Favorite Healthcare Staffing

August 11, 2021

5121 Views

Healthy Tips to Support a Travel Nurse Lifestyle!

Posted on August 11, 2021July 20, 2021 by Favorite Healthcare Staffing

This article was provided by Favorite Healthcare.

Travel Nurses are always on the go during their assignments, making it sometimes difficult to stay on top of mental and physical health. Whether you are hitting the road for the first time or are looking to adopt new healthy habits, here are some helpful tips to keep you healthy while on your travel nursing assignment!

Maintain Your Physical Health

Living the travel nurse lifestyle, it can be difficult to make your physical health a priority. You come home from a long and exhausting shift, and the last thing you want to do is fit in a workout. Here are some simple ways to stay healthy:

Join a local gym that you can attend on your days off or when you just need to relieve the stresses of work. Make sure to do your research to find the best fit for you.
Don’t want to join a gym? No problem! Order a few resistance bands to do body workouts wherever you are!
Go on walks or hikes. There is nothing better than a long walk while enjoying the beauty of nature wherever you are.
Even the simplest forms of physical activity can be good for you! Whether that is walking to the local coffee shop you discovered or taking a morning stroll on the beach, keep your body moving.
Always stay hydrated! Water is vital for the human body to function properly throughout the day so make sure you have a good water bottle on hand. You can even find a 64-ounce water bottle to make sure you get your full water intake throughout the day.

Sleep Makes Everything Better

Working long shifts every day can be extremely stressful and draining. Sleep is important to help you maintain your physical and mental wellbeing, but catching some Z’s isn’t always as easy as it sounds for a nurse. Here are some ways to keep a regular sleep schedule:

Make your space your own. Bringing cozy items with you while you’re on assignment like your pillow, favorite blanket or slippers can help you stay relaxed.
When it’s time to sleep, keep your room cool, dark, and even find a comfortable sleep mask to block out any extra light.
Sound machines are great to bring with you on a travel assignment. If you don’t have one you can even play white noise straight from your phone. A variety of music apps have different playlists that can help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
Ensure that you have a regular bedtime routine in place. Whether you enjoy reading a book or prefer to limit screen time before bed, having a consistent routine every day will help your body prepare itself for a good night’s sleep.

Don’t Neglect Your Mental Health

The travel nurse lifestyle can sometimes mean that you will have time alone or that you might be far away from your friends, family, and loved ones. This could put a strain on your mental health. Here are some tips for supporting good mental health:

Make sure to research the location you are heading to. If you are traveling alone, you can fill up your schedule with activities and adventures to keep your mind and body active.
Have nothing to do in a new city? Working extra shifts is always a good option and a terrific way to make extra money!
Add yoga, breathing exercises, or a form of meditation to your workouts for a particularly good stress reliever. It’s also the perfect way to stretch and heal your body after working a long shift.
Remember that it’s always okay to ask for help. There are many online resources you can use if you are feeling down or just need someone to talk to, and here’s a great place to start. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It takes tremendous strength and shows that you care about your body and wellbeing.

Happy Healthy Wallet

While traveling from place to place, the cost of food and travel can add up quickly, and expenses may be higher than you expect. As a travel nurse, healthy eating habits are important to improve and maintain your energy throughout shifts. Going out to eat may be quick and convenient, but overspending on eating out is not the healthiest way to live. There are many easy ways to save money while also keeping your body healthy! Here are some tips on how to keep a happy, healthy wallet:

If you are staying in an Air BnB or a location where you can cook, it could help save you money. Meal prepping is such an easy way to have food ready to go throughout the week, making life easier when you work 12 hours a day.
Eat your fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Eating these higher-quality foods will help keep your energy up. It is also cheaper than buying snacks from a vending machine.
Limit your eating out to one or two times a week. The costs of eating out can add up quickly and often a restaurant’s portions are much bigger than what you would eat at home.

The travel nurse lifestyle can be tiring at times but is overall so rewarding! Not only do you help and heal others, but you also get to visit some breathtaking places and experience amazing adventures across the country. Just don’t forget to also take care of yourself during your travels. Practice each of these tips, and you’ll be on your way to creating a healthy lifestyle as a travel nurse!

Are you looking for your next travel nurse assignment? Click here to view our job board. Do you have your assignment lined up but need housing? Click here to view our housing page.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

By Grace Hawkins

July 7, 2021

5758 Views

Tips to Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle as a Travel Nurse

Posted on July 7, 2021March 22, 2022 by Grace Hawkins

Travel nursing has many perks and challenges. And staying healthy while on the road is one of the most important of them. As a nurse, you can choose to work in different states, cities, and countries. You are constantly challenged with new organizations and are “on the move” many times throughout the year. Travel nurses face work-life changes when they sign up for different assignments. Therefore, it gets difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

But if you are already following a healthy lifestyle, staying healthy while traveling will be easy for you. And if you are someone who hasn’t found the time to acquire healthy habits, travel nursing might be the perfect opportunity to do so. All travel nurses can learn to manage stress, eat healthily and exercise while on the road with careful planning.

We have listed a few essential tips travel nurses can easily use to continue eating mindfully and maintain their health.

Always make a Plan

Anticipating the change helps and allows travel nurses to develop and prepare a plan. The plan can be as detailed as required, depending on the nurse. For example, with proper planning, it will be easy for you to identify nearby grocery stores and healthier restaurants near your assignment location. The travel nurses can even plan meals for their lunches and snacks to avoid the unhealthy foods in the cafeteria or restaurant. In the world of nursing, potlucks are pretty popular. If you are aware that potlucks can be a joint breakroom event at your assigned location, motivate other nurses to plan that as well.

Take CBD Supplements

A travel nurse schedule is a hectic one, with plenty of traveling and hectic work schedules. At such a time, CBD can be helpful. It is a stress reliever and helps to calm the mind. CBD can help promote the mental well-being of the travel nurse. It is widely used as an alternative to medication and relaxation therapies across different professions. You can buy CBD products like CBD oil, CBD hemp capsules from Weedsmart.

Drink Water

Drinking adequate water is essential. A healthy diet does not just end with food choices. Water helps in ramping up the metabolism when taken first thing in the morning. It also helps you feel full for a longer duration and helps in lubricating joints to prevent injury. Since nursing is a physical job, water is essential. Therefore, you need to drink adequate water throughout the day.

Follow a Routine

Following a routine is an efficient and good way of maintaining a healthy life. It is a practice that proved beneficial and fruitful for every person, whatever profession they might be. The schedule of the travel nurse is hectic and full of travel and duty that often leaves them fatigued and worn out. As such, it is important for you to follow a routine with healthy eating and regular exercise. Additionally, you should also resort to workouts. If the location you are traveling to doesn’t have a gym, carrying light weights, or other easily packable fitness equipment or a yoga mat can prove to be helpful. A good pair of sneakers can be a lifesaver at times. Also, a good run or jog in the morning or evening can equally prove effective. There are many free workout videos on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to keep you fit and healthy.

Get a Fitness Buddy

If you have a friend who motivates you to stay fit, that’s an additional bonus. Teaming up with a friend is an effective way to stick to a healthy routine and diet as a travel nurse. You can have a long-time friend, a partner, family member, or even a co-worker at the new workplace as your fitness buddy. Additionally, this arrangement is a great way to strike up a friendship in an unfamiliar location. Like-minded people can help, motivate and encourage you to continue healthy habits, especially when you are beginning a new assignment. Working out with your buddy, swapping healthy recipes, sharing workout and fitness videos, or even scoping out nearby diet-friendly restaurants are excellent ways to keep each other on track.

Take Time for Yourself

As you already are aware, travel nursing can be stressful. Switching gear frequently is not easy and can also lead to setbacks. Hence, you should consider taking time off to help manage your stress. Fun activities such as continuing a hobby, going out sightseeing or exploring nearby places in your new location, and making new friends can help ease the stress. You can try out a relaxing activity like meditating, yoga, art, and journaling to help melt stress and anxiety. In addition to this, getting adequate sleep, taking time off from work, and prioritizing rest is vital in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Conclusion

Work as a travel nurse tests a person both mentally and physically. It is essential to maintain sanity and a healthy lifestyle to work and create a good balance between professional and personal life. We hope these tips help you put your health first and encourage you to continue to help others.

We hope you found these tips on living a healthy lifestyle helpful. If you would like to read more health and wellness articles click here.

By Kevin Devoto

July 3, 2021

6111 Views

3 Ways to Minimize Health Risks as a Traveling Nurse

Posted on July 3, 2021March 22, 2022 by Kevin Devoto

With staying healthy at the forefront of everyone’s minds these days, the idea of getting back to normal is equally omnipresent. While this simply can’t happen just yet, staying safe isn’t an all or nothing kind of affair, and you can resume much of your normal life and career as a traveling nurse even under the current circumstances. The caveat to this is that safety precautions need to be a major priority. Here’s what you need to know to minimize health risks as a traveling nurse.

Take Care of Your Body

In all matters of health, your body is a complex machine made of many moving parts. This means that staying healthy is a holistic endeavor, and there are many factors that come into play regarding the strength of your immune system. For example, your diet needs to be a comprehensive one that gives you all of the essential vitamins and nutrients you need. Vitamin C, vitamin D, and even protein are essential for maintaining your immune system. You can use supplements like greens powder to manage your diet more thoroughly, but it’s still important to eat the right foods and get plenty of water. Exercise is also important, as staying in shape is integral for maintaining not only your fitness but also your mental health. Mental health problems can actually have a pretty dramatic effect on your physical health.

Most notably, mental illness can actually weaken your immune system, making physical illness more likely. Getting plenty of sleep is also essential for keeping your body in tip-top shape because sleep is an integral part of maintaining the body. Sleep deprivation can also create mood problems. The takeaway of all of this is that your body, and your mind, need to be taken care of in many ways, and each of these individual factors has a ripple effect that can impact other aspects of your well-being.

Listen to Experts

Social distancing, quarantine, and medical face masks are a point of contention for some, but the simple fact of the matter is that these practices are shown to be the best tools the average person has in the face of potential infection. This means that like it or not, maintaining these practices when and where it’s advised is the right call. Meeting with friends is no excuse to drop your guard, so be sure to keep your hands clean and wear your mask every time you leave the house. In the safety of your home or the home of someone you know has also been safe, you can take it easy to some extent, but that’s only when everyone involved has the health and safety of themselves and those around them in mind.

Keep Up With Current Events

Knowing the current state of things is a crucial means of playing it safe, so be sure to keep an eye on the news as the situation develops. For example, traveling to another area or even another country or continent necessitates having an understanding of the situation in your destination. If things are just as bad or worse there, then you need to increase your attention to detail regarding safety precautions or simply forego the trip entirely if possible.

Even within your own town, the situation can and will change over time, and policies regarding potential safety measures will change with it. If your area has experienced a substantial uptick in cases of infection, you may undergo quarantine in which you can’t afford to take the risk of interacting with others. However, as long as more people are embracing the safety measures in place, the situation can stabilize and even improve, allowing you to return to your normal life to an extent.

Life in the midst of a pandemic is less than ideal, but learning from the tragedies of the past can help to minimize the risks associated with this moment in history. While it can be devastating to self-isolate, leaving the house is inherently risky. These tips will help you remain safe while allowing you to start living your life again.

We hope you found these tips on minimizing health risks as a traveling nurse helpful. Have you found any ways to minimize health risks while travel nursing? Comment them below.

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

START HERE

Getting Proper Nutrition

Ensuring High-Quality Sleep

Staying Mentally Healthy

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

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Staying Calm and Content:

Make Time For Self-Care

Invest In Yourself

Look For New Adventures

Learn Organizational Skills

Keep Yourself In a Routine

Conclusion

If you are a new travel nurse or looking into becoming a travel nurse:

Travel Nurse Guide: Step-by-Step (now offered in a PDF Downloadable version!)

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1. Get a Sufficient Mineral Intake

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3. Use a Sleep Aid

4. Turn On a White Noise Machine

5. Bring Your Pillow and Blanket

Conclusion

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1. Set some attainable goals

2. Focus on yourself, first and foremost

3. Eat as healthy as you can

4. Find a stress-reduction technique that works for you

5. Incorporate some regular exercise into your routine

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