Setting yourself up for success as a healthcare professional goes beyond acquiring skills, getting specialized certifications, and networking well. Success in the challenging healthcare industry has a lot to do with staying physically and mentally healthy, strong, and resilient.

Stress is, after all, ubiquitous to the nursing profession, with nursing jobs holding four of the top 10 jobs requiring high stress tolerance in the US. Hence, when it comes to career longevity and success, reducing stress and remaining physically healthy should be on top of a nurse’s list of priorities.

In this article, we’ll discuss preventive health habits that can empower female nurses to achieve long-term career success in the dynamic yet rewarding healthcare industry.

Attaining Health and Career Success: Preventive Health Habits for Nurses

The following are science-backed preventive health habits that female nurses should incorporate into their daily lives to remain physically and mentally healthy throughout their careers:

Prioritize your mental health

It’s no secret that nurses regularly deal with emotionally and mentally demanding workdays, a statement that can only be viewed as an understatement, especially after the global pandemic. In a 2026 survey involving more than 2,000 nurses, researchers found that job satisfaction rates fell from 55% (2025) to just 47% (2026). The same survey also found that 1 in 4 nurses is likely to leave their jobs within the next year. Stress and burnout are major factors influencing nurses to leave the profession.

To reduce the risk of developing chronic stress and burnout, nurses need to adopt good mental health habits:

• Manage your time properly by creating a daily to-do plan that prioritizes tasks by level of importance.
• Take meal breaks and five-minute decompression breaks, especially during challenging days.
• Leave work at work. Avoid checking your work email when you’re at home or on vacation.
• Incorporate deep breathing, meditation, light stretching, and journaling into your daily schedule.
• Make time for enjoyable self-care activities, such as reading, watching movies or shows, or crafting.
• Regularly connect with friends and loved ones.

 

Focus on your physical health

Nursing requires a certain level of physical health that can allow nurses to withstand long hours of standing, lifting, and assisting patients. Because of the physical demands of the profession, nurses can develop chronic pain, low back pain (LBP), muscle fatigue, joint pain, and even repetitive stress injuries. Aside from this, nurses who have sedentary lifestyles are also prone to developing cardiovascular illnesses. Studies have shown that women nurses are prone to enjoying less leisure time and physical activities than their male counterparts.

Exercising can help nurses reduce the risk of developing musculoskeletal and cardiovascular diseases. It can also improve nurses’ overall mental health, as it can lower incidences of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Here are some realistic ways to incorporate physical activity into nurses’ busy schedules:

• Move even when you’re at work. Stretch or take walks (outdoors if the weather allows) during your breaktime.
• Opt to alternate between standing and sitting while doing documentation, to avoid sitting or standing for too long.
• Focus on exercises that bring you joy. Not everyone enjoys going to the gym, and that’s okay. Before or after your shift, you can walk or run outdoors, do yoga or Pilates at home, swim, or cycle.
• Movement doesn’t have to take a lot of your time. In time, you can build up your total movement time from a ten-minute stretching or a 20-minute HIIT session to hour-long sessions.
• Set goals and monitor your progress using fitness apps and smartwatches.

Invest in comfortable shoes that provide support for long shifts

The physical demands of nursing can be challenging, especially on the feet, legs, and back. This is especially true for younger nurses working for less than a year, who tend to walk 11,000 steps on the job, which is 3,000 steps more than those with three years or more of work experience.

Direct patient care, partnered with prolonged standing and walking activities, can lead to the development of foot and ankle disorders. According to a 2023 study, the most common foot-related disorders nurses experience include foot pain, numbness, burning feet, bunions, structural deformities, and calluses.

Nurses should invest in light, comfortable, and supportive footwear to reduce the risk of aches and pains and improve circulation. These shoes should also fit well, hugging the feet comfortably while still having enough room for the toes to be wiggled freely. It should provide ample arch support and shock absorption. Aside from preventing foot pain, good shoes can also improve one’s posture, which can reduce the risk of low back, hip, and knee pain.

 

Get a full night’s (or day’s) sleep

Due to the nature of their job, many nurses don’t get enough sleep, which can affect their overall health and cognition. According to a 2019 study, there is a large number of nurses in medical centers who suffer from common sleep disorders. The study found that 31% of the nurses involved in the study dealt with chronic insomnia. Additionally, 27% of the nurses used medications to help them sleep, while 13% used medications to stay awake.

Shift work also affects the amount of sleep nurses get. One study found that nurses who work the night shift lost one to four hours of sleep compared to the normal number of hours of sleep they usually get when they’re not working nights. In the same study, researchers found that one-fifth of the nurses working permanent night shifts struggled to stay awake while taking care of a patient at least once a month during the previous month. A lack of sleep, therefore, can drastically impact patient care outcomes.

Nurses can adopt the following tips to improve their sleep patterns and schedules:

• Create a bedroom environment that’s conducive to getting great sleep. Make sure that it’s dark (especially if you’re working the night shift), cool, and free from unnecessary noise.
• Avoid drinking caffeine or alcohol before bedtime. This can be difficult for night shift workers, but it’s important to consume caffeinated drinks at the start of the shift, and not four to six hours before bedtime. In place of coffee, night shift workers can opt to drink ice water, non-caffeinated herbal tea, or fresh juices to stay awake and alert.
• Stick to a sleep schedule on and off work. Sleep and wake up at around the same times every day.
• Adopt a sleep routine or ritual. Having a series of activities — such as taking a hot shower, doing your skincare routine, and putting on relaxing music — that you do daily before you sleep will let your body know that you’re about to rest for the day.