A career in health care can be demanding due to hours spent on your feet. While CNAs and RNs remind their patients to practice healthy habits, they sometimes neglect their own well-being. Keeping up with your duties without being exhausted at the end of your shift may require additional effort, so use the following tips to boost your endurance.

3 Ways CNAs Can Increase Their Stamina

1. Get the Right Nutrients

What you put into your body is a significant factor in your overall stamina, so if you’re a CNA who relies on energy drinks to get through a shift, it’s time to change your habits. Sugary beverages give you a short boost of energy, but foods and drinks full of protein and complex carbohydrates will have a better long-term impact. Try blending a smoothie with a mix of super foods, such as apples, bananas, kale, oatmeal, and chia seeds, for an energy-packed start to your day.

2. Exercise Regularly

Most health care workers get a good workout during their shifts, but additional exercise can be beneficial if you focus on endurance and stress relief. Aerobic exercises, such as jogging and walking, will increase your stamina for running errands and climbing stairs. Since CNAs sometimes need to lift or assist patients, building your full-body strength with squats and planks will reduce the risk of a job-related injury.

3. Get More Sleep

After a full day of caring for patients, your mind needs an outlet. Sleep is the brain’s way of processing a massive amounts of information, so you can retain facts each day and improve your long-term memory. Muscle growth, rejuvenation and tissue repair also require long periods of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep; the average adult needs between 7 and 9 hours a night. If you frequently work late shifts, invest in darkening curtains or a soothing white-noise machine to help you sleep peacefully during the day.

Pairing the right mind and body training will make you an effective CNA. Big Apple Training in the Bronx and White Plains, NY, has provided aspiring health professionals with quality instruction for over 20 years. They offer a full range of preliminary and continuing education classes to help you achieve your professional goals. Visit their website to look at class schedules, and call (914) 437-7373 in White Plans or (718) 231-3600 in the Bronx to enroll.