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Sometimes at the end of a long shift, your head is ringing from all the beeping, pages and chatter you hear.

As an antidote to this ear fatigue, we at Scrubs have created a soothing playlist that we hope will help you release the stresses of your day. And every one of these songs was recommended by nurses.

So treat yourself and download one or all ten! Then take a deep breath, press play and relax.

1. You Raise Me Up – Josh Groban
2. Say – John Mayer
3. Somewhere in New Mexico – Jill Sobule
4. Society – Eddie Vedder
5. Walking in Memphis – Marc Cohn (or anything by Marc Cohn)
6. Angel from Montgomery – Bonnie Raitt
7. Good People - Jack Johnson
8. When You Say Nothing at All – Alison Krauss
9. Early Winter – Gwen Stefani
10. The River of Dreams – Billy Joel

And here are a few of our favorite relaxing albums:

Quiet Nights by Diana Krall

9 by Damien Rice

Love Is the Answer by Barbra Streisand

An Education OST by Various Artists

Want more? We’ve also created another fun playlist of songs to inspire you, comfort you, or just make you smile.

Thanks to the students at Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, Kate Genovese, RN, Megan Gilbert, Student Nurse, April Chandler, RN, and Patrycja Mahdavi, Staff Nurse, for their help on this list. Have a relaxing song or album to recommend? Leave a comment here or write to us at hello@scrubsmag.com.

Today the RN and OCN on a cancer day treatment unit in Portland, Ore., freely explores her emotions through blog posts as well as brushstrokes, drawing inspiration from her 24 years in pediatric intensive care and adult oncology.

She recently concentrated on the color white, specifically the debate over the return to white nursing uniforms. “It feels like color coding,” she says with concern. The more Paradisi considers the stereotypes and rites of white in Western society, the more outspoken—and prolific!—she becomes. “White has a burden, a flawed innuendo of purity and morality. Nurses are not angels. We have very complex and complicated jobs.”

But do you have to truly get away from it all to have an exquisitely quiet moment? A survey of nurses in various locales suggests not. What is non-negotiable is regularly taking the time to recharge your batteries—whether you do it for five minutes or five days. Everyone needs a breather, but perhaps no one more than a nurse. “Nurses know that too much contact with patients without a period of withdrawal makes for scattered attention, mistakes, anxiety, depression, and loss of interest,” says Steven Hendlin, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice in Newport Beach, CA. and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. “For people like nurses, who are always dealing with other people’s pain and suffering, not having outside stress reducers may lead to depression and early burnout.”

Searching for Serenity

There are no rules about what constitutes the ideal interlude, and it doesn’t even have to be quiet. Maybe you seek solace at a rock concert, or by cheering on your favorite sports team. Yvonne Sannes, a home health nurse in Lancaster, CA rides motorcycles with her husband almost every weekend (the fact that they’re both almost 70 doesn’t stop them). Kim Bahnsen, a Nurse-Family Partnership supervisor in Port Matilda, PA, rides ATVs with her husband and son.

On the other hand, it could be that you use this time simply to take in the beauty of the world—visiting a botanical garden, or even a favorite flower shop on your way home from work; sitting on a cliff watching the fog roll in; or taking a car ride to the nearest river, lake or ocean. Or it may be a time you go inside yourself and block out the rest of the world by daydreaming or reciting affirmations. As long as your escape gives you a chance to remember—and be—exactly who you are, you know you’re doing it right.

Many nurses have more than one way they take refuge from the pressures of the job. Fletcher, for instance, doesn’t get to travel to exotic spots like Everest every day (or every year, for that matter), but she takes a moment for herself daily by switching on classical music after work. “I don’t use the television to escape any more,” says Fletcher. Instead of watching life, she now makes an effort to experience it.

A daily dose of Native American flute helps Paul Phelps wind down. A nurse who works half the year in the ICU at a Greeley, CO hospital, and half the year in Florida (where he cares for his aging parents, too), he also likes to bury himself in a book, taking care to choose one that has nothing to do with nursing. You might call that Phelps’ regular upkeep. In addition, he cultivates his fishing habit as often as he can in nearby creeks and lakes. “I tell my co-workers I only work to fish,” he says. The grandeur of the surrounding mountains, the trickle of cold-water streams, the occasional whir of a fishing reel, and the meditative wait for a catch all add to the serenity of those moments. “After 35 years of working in health care, I have come to understand the necessity of relaxing while away from work,” says Phelps.

To be meaningful, a time-out needn’t be the stuff dreams are made of. On days when you lose a patient or are short-handed at work, something as elementary as sitting down with a proper cup of tea can feel like a little slice of heaven. To Donna R. Pauling, a Nurse-Family Partnership nurse home visitor in Bloomsburg, PA, the perfect time out is making quilts for Quilts for Kids, an organization that distributes them to seriously ill children.

A little pampering can also go a long way. Simply keeping up with a regular pedicure–whether you do your own or go to a salon (definitely spring for the $5 foot massage!)–can lift you into another realm. To Ali Frisius, a pre-op nurse at Post Street Surgery Center in San Francisco, closing her bathroom door and easing into a hot bath with candles flickering nearby and a novel in her hand is pure pleasure. The heat of the water instantly dissipates the nervous energy she’s built up during the day. Other nurses find that just using their 15 minutes in the break room for a calming and repetitive activity like knitting or doing a crossword puzzle can be soothing. So can a brief meditation. “Simply closing your eyes for ten minutes, sitting still, with a straight back and feet on the floor—and doing this away from noise—can help you pull back into the present, slow down, and feel able to return to interacting with patients,” says psychologist Hendlin.

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Eventually I sought out a life coach to help me make sense of my situation. She helped me realize that my position didn’t suit my natural knack for listening to people and solving their problems. I got up the courage to become a life coach myself, helping other nurses in the Denver area de-stress and find balance in their lives, just as someone helped me find mine.

As The Nurse Coach, I give my clients simple assignments geared to help them discover what parts of their lives are out of whack. (You’d be amazed at how many nurses don’t even know they’re on the path to burnout!) We also work on aligning their strengths with their careers and finding ways to take better care of themselves. This rarely means leaving nursing, as it did for me. In fact, I want to keep nurses in nursing (we can’t afford to lose even one of us!).

What needs changing in your life? Take the quiz below to get an idea of where you stand on the overload-o-meter—at work and at home. Then take a look at the six assignments that follow: your call to action. Each is designed to put you on the road to a happier, more fulfilled life.

Take This Stress Test

Rate each of the 12 statements according to the following scale:

1 = never
2 = rarely
3 = sometimes
4 = often
5 = always

_____  I am responsible for so many different tasks at work and at home.

_____  I feel less competent or effective than I used to.

_____  I frequently feel overwhelmed.

_____  I’m achy—head, stomach, muscles.

_____ I have trouble sleeping and feel tired even when I get enough sleep.

_____  I often wish I could play hooky.

_____  I tend to see the glass half empty rather than half full.

_____ I find myself watching the clock throughout my shift.

_____  I get angry and irritated easily.

_____ I stick to myself and avoid conversations with coworkers.

_____  I’m often tempted to calm myself with alcohol, drugs or food.

_____ I rarely take breaks or even vacations.

Total up the numbers.

Your score: _____

WHAT YOUR SCORE MEANS

12–20: You have little job-related stress. This is a good position to be in, although you can make your life even better. Use the assignments to tweak the area of your life that needs improvement.

21–37: You seem to be under a moderate amount of stress and have a fair chance of becoming overwhelmed. You may want to pay particular attention to Assignment #1 to see what part of your life is out of balance. It’s best to catch and address signs of overload early, before the problem gets away from you.

38–47: You experience a high amount of stress and may be close to overload. All the assignments will be useful, especially #2—people on the verge of burnout often sabotage themselves with negative self-talk.

48 and up: You’re stressed to the max! Use the assignments to determine where you need to make changes, but also ask for help. Contact your hospital’s employee assistance program, find a mentor or seek out a life coach or therapist.

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You’re running late for your shift. Should you grab an energy bar on your way out the door or wait until you can eat something less sugary and more healthy?

Go for the bar if that’s your only option. “A little food first thing helps your brain think clearly,” says Wendy Bazilian, DrPH, RD, head of nutrition at the Golden Door Spa in Escondido, Calif. Think about it: Your body’s been fasting while you’ve been sleeping, so it needs to re-fuel (caffeine alone doesn’t count!) before it can get you going. However, a better—and equally quick—choice would be an apple or banana, lowfat yogurt or a handful of nuts and some dried fruit that you munch as you race to work. Research shows that eating in the a.m. not only increases your metabolism, but may minimize the number of calories you take in throughout the day.

You just got off work and you’re completely exhausted. Do you drag yourself to the gym or just take it easy?

It all depends on how tired you are and why, says Michael Bracko, an exercise physiologist and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. “If you’ve been working long hours and skimping on sleep, listen to your body and rest,” says Bracko, who recommends a power nap. “Nap” is the operative word—be sure to set an alarm so you don’t fall into a deep slumber, which could wreak havoc with your regular sleep schedule.

If you’re more mentally fatigued than physically exhausted, reach for your workout clothes. Exercise can help invigorate your mind as well as your body. But rather than attending the same old fitness class you know by heart, consider interval training, which alternates bursts of intense activity with periods of lighter activity. Studies show interval training helps your body burn fat faster and increases your endurance more than working out at a steady pace, and just 20 to 30 minutes will do the trick. Try alternating jogging for one minute with walking for half a minute. Or briskly walk up and down a hill or a flight of stairs. Choose a workout that works for you—no gym required!

Your skin is dry and blotchy—no doubt due to the relentless heat and/or air conditioning at work. Do you need an exfoliant or an antioxidant?

Both. An exfoliant brings your skin back to life, an antioxidant protects it from the environment. “When your skin cells are spending all their energy defending against dry indoor air, the sun, free radicals, even your own internal stress hormones, they cannot do the good things like make new collagen, retain moisture and repair damaged proteins,” says Dr. Linda K. Franks of Gramercy Park Dermatology in New York City. No wonder hospital skin can look dry, lackluster, and blotchy. Time to repair and regenerate!

Rx #1: Exfoliate. “An exfoliant will help expose a fresher, younger, more hydrated layer of cells,” says Franks. “I like retinol-based lotions and creams in particular, because in addition to exfoliating, they stimulate collagen production, which will increase both support and hydration to the skin.” Her recommendation: RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Night Cream ($23).

Rx #2: Counteract the effects of the elements. Try a light serum, such as La Roche-Posay Active C Anti-Wrinkly Dermatological Treatment for Dry Skin ($46 for 1 ounce) under a moisturizer with a broad-spectrum sunscreen, like Olay SPF 30 Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer ($12).

A doctor snaps at you in front of a patient. Should you silently seethe or speak up?

Speak up…but not right away, says Mark Goulston, MD, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles and author of Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone. “Give the doctor a look that telegraphs your displeasure, but don’t let it interrupt your work,” he suggests. Later, after you’ve taken care of your patient, pull the doctor aside and ask, “When could I have a few minutes to talk about how we can work together better in the future?” As soon as the time comes, focus on your shared purpose—acting professionally while taking care of people who are sick—rather than your emotional response to what the doctor said. For example, you may wish to tactfully ask, “Is there a different way you could communicate your frustration?”

It may not be easy to say something, but it’s important to stand up for yourself. Keeping quiet all but ensures that your frustrations over the doctor’s rude behavior will percolate, and you might end up taking it out on yourself. “Many of my patients tell me they go off their diets or exercise regimes after they’ve had a bad encounter at work,” says Dr. Goulston. “They say to themselves, ‘Oh, the hell with it, I’m just going to _________.’” (Fill in the blank with some momentarily comforting but ultimately self-sabotaging behavior, such as drinking or eating too much.) Pent-up anger can have serious long-term health consequences, as well as some not-so-nice short-term repercussions if you end up taking it out on those around you—your patients, your colleagues, or your partner or your kids.

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Designer clothes

You may be surprised to see “designer clothes” and “budget” in the same sentence. But sites like vickissecret.com and christabellescloset.com sell used designer and consignment clothes for up to 80 percent off. (Consider a Gucci “GG” logo pochette bag for $175.) Celebclosetraiders.com offers items with a fancy pedigree, like a dress Paris Hilton wore on MTV’s Total Request Live. Also, we’ve seen great bargains for all types of clothing, in all price ranges, at ebay.com.

Apple products

Some people warn against buying used computers, but I have two refurbished Macs and have never had a problem. The Apple Store sells refurbished products, such as iPods, iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros, which carry a full one-year Apple factory warranty. (You’ll find these listed under “Special Deals” on the Store page.) This means that, with minor aesthetic or mechanical repairs, the product is as good as when Steve Jobs first demo’d it. It just costs less. The Apple Store offers free shipping and, for a price, an AppleCare Protection Plan that’s good for up to three years. Authorized online resellers of refurbished Apple products, like smalldog.com and powermax.com, also offer a one-year warranty. Check out ebay.com for deals on Apple products as well as PC computers. Buy from sellers with strong positive feedback on the site.

Books

I can’t tell you how many books are on my shelves that I bought new, read once and never looked at again. (Of course, there are also some I never read.) Be sure to check out the usual suspects— usedbook stores, garage and tag sales, and thrift stores. And don’t forget libraries. In addition to volumes with pages that you can actually turn, libraries also offer access to online and audio versions. Just beware of due dates so you don’t incur late fees! In addition to amazon. com, there are lots of online sites (including half.com, secondspin.com, abebooks.com and bookfinder.com) that carry cheap used books. And then there are online bartering sites like bookins.com, bookmooch.com, titletrader.com, swaptree.com, fetchbook.info and switchplanet.com, where you can trade books.

Baby and maternity clothes

No one should pay $75 for a handmade sweater for a newborn, right? Or $50 for designer jeans for a two-year-old? Instead of spending big bucks on baby clothes your children will quickly outgrow, or maternity clothes you’ll be happy never to wear again, why not investigate your local resale and consignment shops? We suggest checking out sites like gently-used.com or babyloot.com, and encourage doting family members to do the same.

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Stress is ubiquitous in nursing—let’s face it, it’s part of the job description—so it’s easy to write off as something you just have to live with. “The only prevailing nursing model we have in American hospitals is FRED: frantically running every day,” says Lillee Gelinas, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at VHA, a national alliance of 1,445 hospitals. “Medical surgical units, labor and delivery units—all units—I see stress going up.”

Yet even if stress—whether from work, family, friends, a shaky economy or some combination of the above—comes with the territory, it’s not something to ignore. “Unattended stress results in ‘stress pile-up,’” says Dr. Michael Groat, a psychologist in the Menninger Clinic’s Professionals in Crisis program in Houston, Texas. Some nurses end up quitting jobs they love; others become so fatigued they make errors; and there are those who resort to substance abuse. Many actually become sick—chronic stress not only can lead to high blood pressure and depression, but also inhibits the body’s ability to fight off bacteria and viruses, making you susceptible to all kinds of illnesses.

“With nursing’s emphasis on taking care of other people, it’s easy to neglect self-care,” says Dr. Groat. Getting enough sleep, exercising regularly and eating right are the basics. Beyond that, there are strategies that can reduce the stress in your life and help you cope better. Here are some solutions for stress relief and healthier living, culled from experts in the field and nurses on the front line.

Take Control

“The primary factor leading to burnout in any profession is a sense of lack of control over one’s working environment,” says Alicia R. Ruelaz, MD, associate director of psychosomatic medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In nursing, that feeling can be unduly stressful. Her recommendation: Know thyself.

Go through a day or two noticing which aspects of your job give you energy and which drain it. Do what you can to seek out the former and avoid the latter. For example, if you enjoy training new nurses, supervising nurses’ aides or keeping supplies stocked, see if your manager will let you incorporate more of those duties into your schedule. Talk to colleagues, too. One of them might enjoy and want to take on—or at least exchange—a task you’d like to give up.

Perspective, Perspective

For Lisa Roundtree, a labor and delivery nurse in Oceanside, Calif., stress comes from being where people arrive healthy and are expected to leave, with their babies, just as fit as when they came in. “When something bad happens, it’s very bad, and that can leave me overwhelmed.”

“Medical training emphasizes divorcing yourself from the emotional side of medicine, yet most nurses go into nursing because they have an incredible amount of compassion,” says Jennifer Edwards, a stress-reduction educator, founder of the New York City-based company Relaxation on the Go, a writer and master teacher focused on sustainable stress reduction, as well as the daughter of two nurses and the ex-wife of another. “If you put up a wall and don’t show up emotionally for your patients, you’re counteracting your natural inclinations.” That can provoke stress. The trick is to find your own emotional balance—not bottling up your emotions, but not letting them overwhelm you, either.

For Roundtree, that means maintaining perspective so there’s no stress pile-up: “Trying to save somebody’s life, yes, that’s stressful. Trying to get two kids into the bath is not the end of the world; it’s just annoying.”

Lighten Up

Nursing at a long-term care facility was one of the most difficult jobs Sandra Seddon, a nurse of 36 years, ever had. “We had no equipment, no positive reinforcement and worked with a lot of people who didn’t want to be nurses. I’d come home crying,” says Seddon, now a hemodialysis nurse in Summit, N.J. Her life raft, then as now: making jokes. You don’t have to be Sarah Silverman or Tina Fey to see the light side of a situation.

“When you can shrug off mistakes and say, ‘Well, that didn’t work,’ then chuckle and move on, it’s going to help,” says Dan Diamond, MD, a family physician in Silverglade, Wash., who is also president of Powerdyme, a company that helps teach medical personnel coping skills. As director of the Medical Triage Unit at the New Orleans Convention Center after Hurricane Katrina, he saw, up close and personal, what it’s like for health care workers to be placed under enormous stress. “Our triage team was serious about what we did,” he says, “but our mascot was a rubber chicken.”

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ICU nurse and triathlete Kiersten Henry sets her own pace. 

Three years ago, Kiersten Henry decided to start practicing what she preached. A cardiac nurse practitioner and member of the cardiac vascular team at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, Md., Henry regularly coached her patients on how to ease into exercise, starting slowly with something that appealed to them. Having let her own workout routine lapse, Henry resumed running three days a week. Within a month, the former high school athlete had picked up the pace and started to train for a triathlon.  “I’m very goal focused,” explains Henry, 34, who’s now competed in numerous races, including a half ironman. She likens training to nursing in more ways than one. “You come into your shift every day knowing your goals. Training for a competition is very similar.” As with each day on the floor, every workout requires an ability to constantly adjust expectations and goals according to reality, something the nurse–and mom!– learned long ago.  Similarly, she says, “While there are days on duty that don’t go how you want, there are workouts and races like that, too. The best you can do is tough it out and know that the next day will be better.”

Sanity-Saving Strategies:

• Always have a goal in mind.
• Start small.
• Plan ahead by making a schedule.
• When the schedule doesn’t work, figure something else out.
• Get at least 7 hours of sleep.
• Always keep go-to food in the freezer.
• Take a moment to laugh each day with family and friends.
• Find ways to multitask.
• Ask for help.

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But wouldn’t it be nice to have more time to do the things you want to do? Or make it through the day at a less-than-panicked pace? “Nurses especially need time to renew, both for their own sake and so they can serve others more effectively,” says Schwartz.

Perhaps you feel there aren’t enough hours in the day because you haven’t laid claim to enough of those hours for yourself. Making time comes down to simple physics. If you want more time, you have to free up more time. This requires more than simply willing it to happen. Time management is really self management, and it starts with knowing what you want and shifting your perspective just a little. Here are three simple steps for doing just that. Choose one or embrace them all.

Step 1: Focus on What YOU Want

First things first: You need to make yourself a priority. Take a second to think about what’s most important to you and what’s missing from your life. What would you do if you had an extra hour each day? An extra afternoon each week?

Craft a mission statement

Write a sentence or two that sums up the life you’d like to have. Be both general and specific. Here’s a sample to get you started: I want to spend my days taking care of people in an environment that is healthy and inspiring. I want to spend my nights and weekends with people I love, doing activities that make me feel happy.

Chart your life

Now try this: Draw a line down the center of a piece of paper. On the left side, list every single thing you do each week: work, commute, laundry, gym, childcare, cook dinner, etc. We’ll call this The Old List. On the right side, list the activities you would like to be doing: reading novels, planning a vacation, going on regular date nights, staring at the stars, learning belly dancing, etc. This is The New List—in Step 3, you’ll learn how to make it The Now List.

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