The World Health Organization defines self-care as the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability, with or without a healthcare provider.
Why Self-Care Matters in Nursing
Self-care is a necessity, not a luxury. Nurses advocate for patients and families, which means they need to be emotionally and mentally available. That is only possible when they look after their own wellbeing first.
Long hours and busy schedules wear nurses down, and burnout shows up as lost focus, forgetfulness, and mistakes driven by exhaustion. Burnout is widespread: in the 2024 National Nursing Workforce Survey, stress and burnout ranked among the leading reasons nurses cut their hours or left the workforce (NCSBN, 2024). Treating self-care as a priority limits the damage burnout does to you and to your patients.
What Self-Care Looks Like
Self-care spans physical, mental, social, spiritual, and personal health, and it looks different for everyone. Scheduling workouts, aiming for daily steps, carving out time away from technology, and building space for activities you genuinely enjoy all count. Varying your routine keeps it sustainable.
Common options:
- Physical: take a walk, eat well, ride a bike, work out, try a yoga class
- Mental: acknowledge what you did well, find an emotional outlet (drawing, music, writing), keep a gratitude practice, express emotions as you feel them
- Social: talk with coworkers about nonwork topics, go to dinner with a friend, spend time with family
- Spiritual: meditate, volunteer, engage with your faith
- Personal: try a new hobby, build a skincare routine, go for a drive, reward yourself after a hard task
Making Time for It
Finding the time is the hard part. Give yourself grace when life crowds it out, because flexibility is the point and self-care should not become another burden. Sometimes that means a nap; other times it is a 45-minute spin class. There is no single right approach.
Plan ahead. Without intention, the activities that protect your long-term mental and emotional health get crowded out by urgent daily tasks. When the schedule is packed, even a one-minute reflection or a single deep breath helps.
Prioritizing Self-Care
Know your work routine well enough to schedule self-care into it, and decide what matters to you personally, not just professionally. Share your strategies with colleagues. You are not in this alone, and what works for someone else may work for you.
Small acts add up. Something as minor as grabbing an iced coffee on the way to work can be a mindful act of self-kindness. Frame those small choices that way consistently, and over time they become habits you no longer have to schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is self-care for nurses? The World Health Organization defines self-care as the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability, with or without a healthcare provider (WHO). For nurses, it means deliberately protecting your physical, mental, social, spiritual, and emotional health so you can keep delivering good care.
Why is self-care important for nurses specifically? Nurses carry heavy emotional and physical loads, and burnout shows up as lost focus, forgetfulness, and errors. Stress and burnout were among the leading reasons nurses cut hours or left the workforce in the 2024 National Nursing Workforce Survey (NCSBN). Self-care limits that damage to you and your patients.
What are examples of self-care for nurses? It spans five areas: physical (walking, eating well, exercise, yoga), mental (gratitude, creative outlets, naming emotions), social (time with friends, family, and coworkers), spiritual (meditation, volunteering, faith), and personal (hobbies, rewarding yourself after a hard task).
How do nurses find time for self-care on a busy schedule? Plan it into your known work routine instead of waiting for free time, and give yourself grace when life crowds it out. Even a one-minute reflection or a single deep breath counts when the schedule is packed.
Is self-care a luxury or a necessity? A necessity. Nurses can only stay emotionally and mentally available for patients when they look after their own wellbeing first, which is why programs like ANA's Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation treat nurse wellbeing as core to safe care.