R.E. Hengsterman MSN, MA, M.E., RN — Nurse Author & Shift-Work Health Expert

Then my heart rate variability (HRV) dropped to 14. That’s not just “a rough stretch.” That’s a real-time signal that my autonomic nervous system—the balance between sympathetic fight-or-flight and parasympathetic repair—is overwhelmed.

In the quiet moments between shifts, when the hum of hospital machines fades into the background, I find myself reflecting on the stories that weave through the lives of patients and caregivers alike. Narrative medicine is more than a buzzword; it is a lifeline, a bridge between clinical facts and human experience. It invites us to listen deeply, to honor the stories that shape healing, and to recognize that medicine is as much about narrative as it is about science. Narrativ

A Practical Guide to Nurse Writing: Where Passion Meets Purpose

I remember the night with absolute clarity. A routine shift, until it wasn’t. The room compressed, the air thinned, and my own physiology staged a quiet rebellion. I’m not built for anxiety, if anything, my wiring tends toward the opposite. I’ve always leaned toward risk, making the kind of decisions that define someone built for implosion, but not retreat. But on that night, after months of accumulated strain finally converged, my nervous system made its point. I stepped out

Those of us living under that biology understand the math: early detection is leverage. The IsoPSA test has become one of the more meaningful developments in that space.

Healthcare erased the boundary between night and day. And we asked the human body to keep up.

Shift work carves its lessons into the body long before we’re ready to understand them. Aging simply unmasks what was always there. The vulnerability becomes harder to outrun, harder to medicate with adrenaline, and harder to dismiss as just part of the job.

Night work demands more than resilience—it requires understanding what chronic circadian disruption does to your body, mood, cognition, and long-term health.

Schools charge what they charge because the federal government allows students to borrow unlimited amounts to pay for it.

For nurses, this is not an academic footnote. It is our lived environment.

Today, we’ve traded macramé and macrobiotics for ring lights, Canva templates, and digital downloads—but it’s the same old playbook.

This isn’t about resilience. Nurses aren’t burning out because they’re insufficiently tough. They’re burning out because the clinical environment has drifted outside the tolerances of human physiology and long-term professional sustainability.

The night hums with a different rhythm. When the world sleeps, we awaken. The glow of hospital monitors replaces sunlight. The quiet corridors echo with footsteps and whispered conversations. Yet, beneath this nocturnal ballet lies a persistent shadow - fatigue. It creeps in, slow and steady, threatening to dull our sharpest senses and cloud our judgment. Managing work fatigue is not just a necessity; it is an art form, a dance between science and self-care. Today, I want to

Writing is a powerful tool. It can heal, educate, and inspire. As a nurse, I have witnessed the profound impact of words in shaping healthcare conversations. Becoming a nurse author is not just about putting pen to paper; it is about weaving the art of storytelling with the science of nursing. It is a journey that transforms clinical experience into narratives that resonate, inform, and empower. The rhythm of shift work often leaves little room for creative pursuits. Yet, the

What we actually see in epidemiology is that AFib risk is driven far more by age, sex, and comorbidities than by caffeine.

Keywords: night shift, circadian rhythm, occupational health, light exposure, sleep disruption, work schedule tolerance Night shift work has long been linked to metabolic disease, cancer risk, cardiovascular strain, and sleep disruption. Yet decades of epidemiological research continue to deliver uneven, sometimes contradictory findings. For anyone who works nights—or cares for those who do—the problem isn’t that the science is wrong. The problem is that we’re not measuring s

The Claims We’ve Heard “The system runs on the back of nurses — breaking themselves to keep it from collapsing.” “We (nurses) are the safety net for a system with holes too big to mend.” “It’s not resilience — it’s survival. And no one should have to die for a paycheck that barely lets them live.” These statements capture perceived truth about stress, moral injury, and strain in nursing. But they also carry implicit assumptions about collapse, indispensability, and inevitabil

Even then, I felt the tension between scientific wonder and social unease—questions of control, randomness, and what it means to intervene in creation.

Sleep disturbances and insomnia are themselves major cardiovascular risk factors; distinguishing the effect of the supplement from the underlying sleep disorder is critical.

From chalky whey isolates to overpriced “wellness” powders wrapped in pastel labels — most left me bloated, wired, or worse, disappointed. But one blend has stood out, hands down: True Protein Custom Blend (Vanilla Bean flavor).