The profession of nursing requires a capacity and joy for caring and healing others both mentally and physically. Nurses spend their careers caring for patients and their families often in the worst and most frightening periods of their lives. Nursing responsibilities can be lengthy, stressful and physically and emotionally demanding.
The demands of the nursing profession coupled with the nursing shortage and longer work hours put even more stress on nurses. Despite these extreme demands, many nurses do not fully appreciate the importance self-care.Yet without proper care for themselves, nurses are not able to provide the best care for their patients. “Self-care and self-healing is a critical component of being able to provide holistic nursing because holistic nurses recognize that they cannot facilitate healing unless they are in the process of healing themselves” (Cohen, 2010, p. 1). For this reason and many more, nurses need to allocate time and energy for caring for their own needs as well as needs of their patients.
With this is mind I adopted an exercise program as self-care modality for my independent study.Over the course of my independent study I researched the importance of self-care, how exercise is an effective self-care modality and the how I used my self-care modality for my personal and professional development as a nurse. In preparing for my independent study I did a literature review of the importance of self-care for the nurses. The literature review showed that without proper self-care strategies nurses have higher burnout rates and their job satisfaction is significantly decreased.
When nurses do not care for themselves adequately they become stressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed. When nurses become stressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed this has a negative impact on patient care, which leads to poor patient outcomes. Lack of self-care also leads to poor physical and mental health in the nursing population. The research article Mental health nurses'…how do they self-care? showed that mental health nurses are at increased risk for stress-related illnesses and somatic problems when they lack support and self-care (Gibb, Cameron, Hamilton, Murphy ; Naji, 2010).
Gibbs, et al (2010) found that mental health nurses lacked support from their peers and managers and found their jobs highly demanding and reported very high levels of stress and emotional exhaustion. Mental health nurses were given the chance to meet with Occupational Health Services (OHS) as a means of extra support and a place to discuss their feelings and experiences. Nearly all of the nurses who used the OSH service experienced decreased stress and said they would recommend the service to other mental health nurses (Gibbs, et al, 2010).The study Older women nurses: health, ageing concerns and self-care strategies by Gabrielle, Jackson, ; Mannix (2008) found that many older nurses had spent their entire careers putting the needs of others before their own needs. Many of the nurses in this study reported having increased aches and pains associated with basic nursing tasks, chronic fatigue, and had the feeling that their bodies were simply ‘wearing out’.
Many of the older experienced nurses said they tended to neglect their own needs when working conditions were poor, and they had to work longer hours with fewer staff.Senior nurses also reported increased responsibilities and harder patient assignments, which increased their stress and fatigue (Gabrielle, Jackson, ; Mannix, 2008). Many nurses believed that “a selfless attitude and neglecting self-care made up a large part of a nurse’s identity” (Gabrielle, et al. , 2008, p. 319).
This belief of nurses can have serious consequences especially when coupled with the demands of the nursing profession. Consequences included chronic conditions or self-inflicted illnesses due to lack of self-care. One nurse Hedi stated “You put yourself last...You see other nurses or patients needing.
.. you can’t just have a break..
. But if you don’t look after yourself you end up sick... I ended up with a complicated UTI because I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t going to the toilet” (Gabrielle, et al.
, 2008, p. 319). Sadly, Hedi’s lack of self-care is common to many nurses young and old throughout the country. Although many of the older nurses reported neglecting their own needs the study outlined several great self-care strategies for older nurses. These self-care strategies included; regular exercise, eating healthy, and taking time for yourself.Eating healthy is especially important for nurses because many nurses do not take time during their shifts to eat or drink water.
One nurse stated “meal breaks, that’s got to be the biggest laugh out”, while yet another nurse said “I don’t drink water…basically, I have coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee” (Gabrielle, et al. , 2008, p. 321). After implementing self-care strategies outlined in the study many nurses reported having decreased aches and pains, lower blood pressure, decreased weight and overall better mental and physical health.Nurses who engaged in regular physical activities also reported better eating and drinking habits. Sara, a midwife of 44 years, had type-2 diabetes, obesity, and osteoarthritis from lack of self-care.
Sara adopted a regular exercise program, changed her diet and cut back on her work hours. After making these changes she stated, “I’ve lost 36 kilos, I go to the gym, I walk, I swim. I do all the things I said I would never do, and I’m enjoying life. I didn’t enjoy life for a long, long, time” (Gabrielle, et al. , 2008, p.
321). Sara’s experience is representative of many other nurses in this study.Overall, Gabrielle, Jackson, ; Mannix (2008) found that nurses were happier and healthier when they took time to care for themselves instead of only their patients. For my self-care modality I decided to adopt a regular exercise program. Before starting my exercise program I did additional research on the benefits of exercise on both physical and mental health. The article Exercise can seriously improve your mental health: Fact or fiction? By Donaghy (2007), was a literature review of many studies that looked at the benefits of exercise on mental health.
The literature review outlined several important benefits of exercise including decreased depression, stress reduction, better overall mood, increased cognitive function in older adults and improved self-perceptions and body image (Donaghy, 2007). The study also briefly covered the better-known physical benefits of exercise such as prevention/treatment of cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Studies included in this article also found possible benefits of exercise on alcohol and drug addiction.Another study found that in some cases exercise could be as effective as antidepressant medications for the treatment of depression (Donaghy, 2007).
One study by Henwood (2012) found that physical activity done at work, such as a nurse running around during a busy shift, did not have any of the same positive effects on mental or physical health as physical activity done in leisure time outside of work. This finding was particularly interesting to me a student nurse because many of my peers have reported not going to the gym after a busy shift.Their rationale is that they do not need to use the elliptical, treadmill, etc because they ran around at work. The overall conclusion of my literature review is that regular exercise done outside of work has been shown to have many benefits on mental and physical health. For my independent study I adopted a strength-training program for the entire spring semester. My strength-training program consisted of about 3 hour long full-body workouts per week.
Luckily, I was able to get professional help with my program from my boyfriend who is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).The program I did consisted of 4 majors parts. Part one of the work out was foam rolling, or a form of self-massage, that gets blood flowing and gets the tissues ready for exercise. Part two consisted of a short 5-10 minute warm up including mobility drills for joint preparation and muscle activation. The third part of the workout was the strength-training portion.
The fourth and final part was a 5-10 minute cool down that included more mobility drills and foam rolling. I have always been an athletic person. I grew up playing competitive sports my entire childhood and was a high level gymnast for about 10 years.As my school responsibilities increased and my free time decreased at the end of high school into college I stopped being active.
I no longer played sports and finding time and motivation to go to the gym was nearly impossible. When I started working out again this semester it was very hard at first. Everything made me sore and I was out of breath after my warm-up. As I continued to workout regularly I began to love it. I no longer got sore and the warm-ups got easier and easier as my endurance increased.
My body, mind and spirit felt better with every workout.I expected to be stronger and healthier, with increased endurance. What I did not expect was the overall sense of well being I had. My sleep quality drastically improved, along with my eating habits.
I consistently drank more water, especially on days I exercised. My energy levels were increased along with my motivation. My chronic back pain has pretty much disappeared, and I am not as sore after busy 12-hour shifts. My overall anxiety and stress levels are lower. I also found if I exercised around exam time I was not as moody or irritable.My physical and mental health is the best it has been in years.
This experience has taught me so much about the importance of self-care for both my personal and professional development. The personal benefits of regular exercise as I mentioned above are numerous. Taking an hour every other day to work on myself has been amazing. It has made me appreciate the importance of caring for myself and not neglecting my mental and physical health needs. Professionally this experience has taught me that without adequate self-care my peers and I are at risk for physical and mental health conditions.
Moving forward into my career as a nurse I will continue to care for myself. I will also support my co-workers and encourage them to be mindful of their needs. Something as simple as covering a lunch break or a mental time-out are smalls ways I can help others work on their self-care. I am grateful for this experience to remind me that even though I have dedicated my life to caring for others, it does not mean I have to neglect my own care. I plan to continue to exercise as much as possible as I move forward into my career.
